


Home Is Where The Heart Is

by cairistiona13



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Animal Transformation, Cat Ears, Cat/Human Hybrids, Catboys & Catgirls, Collars, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Hand Jobs, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, Ownership, Pets, Tails, Transformation, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 09:34:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6279196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cairistiona13/pseuds/cairistiona13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Pets!AU/catboy!AU] Taemin is the worst friend ever. He takes Jongin out to buy a pet—one of the new-fangled human-animal hybrids—one day and Jongin comes home with a friend, a partner, and more.<br/>(Taemin is still the worst friend ever.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Is Where The Heart Is

**Author's Note:**

> Their ages are all over the shop. Seohyun is younger than Chanyeol. Suho is younger than Kai. Yoona and Yuri are younger than all of them. I just went with whatever suited…
> 
> (At the time, in 2013:) I know there’s at least one other SuKai catboy!AU. Mine was not inspired by it (I haven’t even read it yet). I started mine at the same time. ^^" Just in case anyone is wondering.

Kim Jongin is not the kind of person who would call himself lonely. Snarky, a good dancer, friendly when you get to know him, sure, but lonely? He has friends. Lee Taemin, Seo Youngho. There are others, whose names don’t really matter (Kim Minseok). But basically, he has friends. He doesn’t need more.

This is why it baffles him when Lee Taemin flops on the couch and tells him he needs to get a pet.

“It’ll be good for you,” Taemin tells him. “You could do with one. A cute puppy, maybe. He’d look at you with big eyes and ask you to scratch him under the chin.”

Jongin is old-fashioned. He likes his pets that way, too. He likes them to bark and meow and bat things with paws. He doesn’t want to be _asked_ to do anything by a boy with whiskers and a tail. When did human-pet crossbreeds become so popular, anyway?

“Oh, come on,” Taemin says. “Don’t be such a spoilsport. I’ll take you to the best market. Leeteuk-hyung sold me Minho. He’ll be able to find you a puppy for sure.”

Minho is his half-human, half-show dog. Jongin thinks he’s probably a Collie, due to his boundless enthusiasm. He’s all about doing tricks and showing off and trying to stick his nose into Jongin’s crotch, with differing degrees of success. Jongin is _very much not okay_ with this, but Minho never learns—despite what Taemin says about him having a good memory. Jongin doesn’t want a pet anything like Minho. _Maybe_ a young puppy, twelve years old or thereabouts, to snuggle and play games with, but not an excitable one. Not one who wants to stick his nose into Jongin’s crotch.

“Maybe a toy poodle,” he says aloud, and lets Taemin drag him to the market (grudgingly).

\---

The market is held in a large square not far from Jongin’s house, off the main high street outside. It’s busy due to it being the weekend and most people being off from work or school. There are a mix of humans and pets milling about, including a girl with a rat tail using it to pick up fruit. Some pets have collars around their necks, and some also have leads connecting them to their owners. Jongin feels uncomfortable looking, like he’s intruding in some kind of public bondage relationship.

Jongin tries to hover by the traditional pet shops, looking at the budgies, parrots and mice in their cages. There are some cats, rabbits and dogs but they are few and far between now the hybrid trend has caught on, most pets in labs as scientists implant their genes into human embryos. Most people tend to find the hybrids cuter than the originals, and they are certainly easier to talk to. This is why loners are advised to have pets. They help them become less sheltered and more open to new people and daily life.

Taemin doesn’t let him stay by the traditional pets for long, though. He drags him over to a man at the back of the square, who Jongin presumes is Leeteuk. He is shorter than Jongin is, with floppy hair over his eyes and a wide smile.

“Good to see you, Taemin-sshi,” Leeteuk greets him. “How’s Minho?”

“He’s very well, thank you,” Taemin says. “He’s excited about an obedience contest he wants to do. I told him he’s too human for it, but he wants to do it anyway.” He turns to look at Jongin for a moment. “Leeteuk-sshi, this is my best friend Jongin. I think he needs a pet. This will be his first one. He has both the time and the space for one.”

“Aah!” Leeteuk says. “Well, he’s come to the right place! Follow me.”

He leads them through a door in the barrier behind him, leading through a shop and out into an enclosure in the back. Everywhere there are children play-fighting, young boys and girls with tails of all kinds and sizes scrapping and batting each other and balls on the floor. A puppy is chewing on the pointed white ears of a girl who is mewling and hitting at him with her hands, squeaking, “Oppa!” as he continues to chew gently. All of them are young, because pets become harder to sell when they pass the age of sixteen.

Most of the children are playing, but there are several who aren’t. Jongin’s eyes are drawn to a boy with the largest book in the world in front of him. He thinks the boy’s human until the kitten squeaks loud enough that he lowers his book and Jongin realises he has enormous black and white whiskers and furry brown ears that twitch atop his brown-haired head. He looks older than sixteen, which Jongin thinks can’t possibly be right.

“Chanyeol,” the cat scolds, calling over to the puppy, a retriever with golden-brown curls and large floppy ears, “stop hurting Jinri.”

Chanyeol pouts but lets go of Jinri’s ears. The kitten mewls gratefully and runs over to the cat-boy, who reaches down to scratch behind her ears. She purrs and nuzzles his thigh happily.

The whole place strikes Jongin as part animal sanctuary, part children’s home. He doesn’t know what to make of it, and he doesn’t know what to do, either. He doesn’t really like the look of any of the pets. He curses Taemin in his head and looks over at a female Dalmatian puppy scrabbling with a toy poodle, their hair loose and knotted together as they fight happily. Neither of them can be older than eleven years old.

“See any you like?” Leeteuk asks from behind him. He then begins to point them out. “That there’s Chanyeol. He’s eager to learn and very playful, but he’s on hold for someone. Jinho sleeps a lot,” he indicates a boy with chubby cheeks and golden hamster ears who’s asleep in a ball in the corner, “but he’s a good listener. Jinri is cute and excitable. Juhyun,” here he points to another cat, this one a sleek and pretty Siamese, her nose in a novel, “is very clever and you’d have very interesting conversations with her. Yuri and Yoona are the puppies at the back, and they’re friendly but probably wouldn’t like to leave each other. They’ve been together since birth. And cleverest and kindest of all of them is Joonmyun.” He nods to the cat-boy with the large whiskers, who is still combing his fingers through Jinri’s hair. She looks like she’s about to fall asleep. “He’s the oldest, he’s eighteen this year.”

He’s a good few years younger than Jongin, but Jongin is still surprised at his age.

Joonmyun must sense they’re talking about him, or he can hear with his good cat-hearing, because he looks up, smiles warmly, and waves. The way his face lights up is handsome, his eyes sparkling happily, and Jongin swallows quite without meaning to. It wouldn’t do to find one’s pet handsome—even though he’s completely sure Taemin bought Minho solely for his looks (what _else_ is good about him?).

Taemin must have seen, or something must have given Jongin away, because he asks, “Why’s he been here for so long? He’s cute. You’d think someone would snap him up in a heartbeat.”

Leeteuk shrugs. “He was adopted when he was very young, but his owner gave him back not long after, and he’s been with us ever since. Joonmyun has some issues, you see. He’s never found anyone to take him because he’s never liked anyone enough, and nobody’s wanted to deal with the issues he has. He’s very kind, though, and he helps me run the shop. You must have seen him when you bought Minho.”

“Uh, yeah,” Taemin says. “I probably did.” He doesn’t sound very sure.

“What do you mean by _issues_?” Jongin finds himself asking, looking at Joonmyun with a tilted head, as if that’ll explain things to him. He sure looks normal—or as far as cats go. He has furry ears, whiskers as wide as his shoulders, and a tail that stretches down to the floor. Jongin can’t see anything wrong with him. In fact, he seems very handsome, for a cat.

“He’s clingy,” Leeteuk says. “He likes to touch and be touched a lot.”

“That’s normal, isn’t it? Minho wants me to hug him all the time.”

Jongin remembers Minho’s nose against his upper thigh and nods as well, trying to suppress the urge to shudder. He really needs to tell Taemin to teach his dog better.

“He gets attached easily and quickly, though,” Leeteuk continues. “Almost _too_ quickly. And then there’s the big one, he—”

He doesn’t get a chance to finish, because there’s a _pop!_ and Joonmyun’s book falls to the floor with a thud, surrounded by items of clothing, which Jinri, who woke up when her head hit the chair, begins folding up neatly with an expression on her face that suggests this is completely normal.

Jongin looks about for a moment in confusion and then a brown cat climbs out from under the clothing. An _actual_ cat, not a cat-boy. It’s shorthaired and does, in fact, look a bit like Joonmyun, which is a ridiculous thought.

The cat jumps elegantly to the floor and then trots across it to Jongin, where he starts rubbing himself against Jongin’s ankles and purring happily. Jongin stares down at him in bemusement.

“Aww, he likes you!” Taemin coos, and he kneels to scratch the cat under his chin. He purrs even louder.

“So, yes. _That_ happens,” Leeteuk says. “Not every day, but enough. We don’t know why it happens, but it disturbs a lot of our customers. They don’t really want a _cat_.”

Jongin isn’t even the slightest bit confused about the reaction of the customers. It’s bizarre. He’s never heard of a pet turning into an actual animal before. Something must have gone wrong with his genes.

The cat-Joonmyun meows and then digs his claws into Jongin’s jeans and begins to climb up, to Jongin’s utmost horror and pain, his claws hooking into Jongin’s skin at times. Jongin takes the hint quickly and unhooks the cat’s claws, lifting him into his arms. He snuggles into Jongin’s chest, practically smiling—if a cat can smile.

“He’s so cute!” Taemin says. “It’s all you’ve ever wanted, Jongin! An animal who actually _likes_ you.”

Jongin is about to make a snippy comeback when the cat in his arms turns back into a boy, the whole thing having taken less than a few minutes. Thankfully, his feet are on the ground, so Jongin doesn’t have to put him down. He’s a lot shorter than Jongin is. _Un_ thankfully, his arms are around Jongin’s neck and he’s on his tiptoes, nuzzling Jongin’s cheek, still purring, his whiskers rubbing slightly against Jongin’s skin; soft, not at all scratchy like he had thought they’d be. Jongin can feel Joonmyun’s chest vibrating against his own and thinks this is all stranger than he’d have expected.

Then he realises Joonmyun is very naked, just a moment before Joonmyun does and flings himself away from Jongin. He lands hard on the floor, tail wrapped strategically in place, and purrs even louder—but Jongin knows that this is due to distress, not happiness. There are tears in Joonmyun’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he mewls, and then he covers his eyes with an arm. Chanyeol scampers over on all fours, a pink blanket in his mouth, trailing along the ground. He spits it out and wraps it around Joonmyun, leaning in briefly to press his nose against the little skin of Joonmyun’s face that’s still showing.

“Is that better, Hyung?” Chanyeol asks and Joonmyun nods silently, not moving his arm from his face. Chanyeol remains undisturbed, as if this happens often.

“This happens a lot,” Leeteuk confirms a beat later, “though not usually around customers.”

Joonmyun chokes out a sob and then stands, blanket tight around him, and runs, on all fours, to the very back of the enclosure, where he curls up into a tiny catlike ball.

“Stop being so overdramatic!” Juhyun calls down to him. “It’s not like we haven’t seen this before!”

This only seems to make Joonmyun cry harder and she turns back to her book.

Jongin feels very confused, but his feelings are more sympathy for Joonmyun than embarrassment about holding a naked boy.

“Aww,” Taemin says again. “You should get him, just for that.” He says it the way he says everything; expectant.

Chanyeol crawls over at this point and jabs his nose beside Jongin’s crotch so hard Jongin thrusts a hand down to cup himself. “Mister,” Chanyeol begins, and then hugs Jongin’s thighs as he rubs his cheek against his jeans, rather catlike for a puppy. Jongin feels more than a little uncomfortable. “Umma likes you a _lot_ ,” Chanyeol says, and he pulls back to give Jongin the most absurd puppy-dog eyes ever. Jongin feels his resolve crumbling.

Jongin tries to find an appropriate response to such a declaration, especially the Umma, but can only manage, “At least he hasn’t tried to stick his nose in my balls.”

Chanyeol snorts, and then pulls away to stand up. He’s taller than Jongin by a good half a head. Jongin finds it unnerving to look up at a fifteen year old who looks like Chanyeol does; all droopy innocence, what with his floppy ears and his unruly curls. His smile is smaller now, friendly and pleasant. “Sorry about that,” Chanyeol says. “It’s a dog’s way of saying hello, you know. Forget human manners sometimes. I’m Chanyeol, and Joonmyunnie-hyung really, really, really, really, _really_ likes you! He’s the sensible one! He barely even _plays_ with us! So the fact his cat-self did that to you shows he really, _really_ wants you.”

Jongin doesn’t know quite how to digest this information. He doesn’t understand what Chanyeol is implying. He isn’t sure he _wants_ to know, to be honest.

He looks over at Joonmyun, curled up in his blanket, shoulders shaking as he cries, and wonders why Joonmyun likes him so much when they’ve literally only just met.

He decides to ask, crossing to the back of the enclosure carefully. Joonmyun hisses when he’s a metre away, so he stops and crouches down. “Hey, hey,” Jongin says softly. “It’s only me.”

Joonmyun hisses again, peeking out from over the top of his blanket.

Jongin tries to think how he used to act with scared animals, and he stretches a hand out in front of him. Joonmyun looks at it for a moment before stretching his neck out to reach it, petting himself with Jongin’s hand for a few moments before pulling back. His skin against Jongin’s is soft and smooth. His purring calms a little.

“Why do you like me?” Jongin asks, trying to be kind about it.

“You’re warm,” Joonmyun says instantly, without having to think at all. “And you smell good and your heartbeat is comforting. You—” He pauses, biting his lip and looking away. “You smell like _mine_ ,” he whispers. “All cats know who they want their Master to be. You—you’re mine. I knew straight away. You’re _mine_.”

Jongin has never really been a cat person, but Joonmyun is cute, and affectionate, and friendly, and Jongin wouldn’t feel creepy having a seventeen year old around, and he thinks he might grow to like cats. “I need to think about it,” he says, though, as if being claimed in such a way isn’t as strange as it actually is. “I need to go home and—and think. You’ll be okay for a few days?”

Joonmyun nods silently, but he looks sad, so Jongin leans over to scratch him behind his ears, until he purrs, smiling a little bit more than before.

Jongin heads back over to Taemin, who looks confused. “You’re not bringing him?” he asks, frowning.

“I have to think about it,” Jongin says. “It’s a big decision. How do I know I’m capable of looking after someone else?”

Taemin shrugs, though he looks like he wants to say something. Leeteuk nods.

“He’s not going anywhere,” he says. “I’ll keep him on hold for a few days if you want. It wouldn’t be the first time.” He nods to Chanyeol.

Jongin thanks him and they leave, Jongin resisting the urge to look over his shoulder at Joonmyun, though he can feel his eyes on his back, burning into his skin. They make him feel sorry, though he doesn’t really understand it.

\---

Taemin scolds Jongin the whole way home.

“He’s not a toy,” he says. “You basically got his hopes up for nothing. It’s not like he’s an animal who would play with you and then go away and not mind. He’s a pet. And he likes you. He’s going to be thinking about you now.”

Jongin feels uncomfortable, but he knows Taemin is right. He is aware of the cruelty of going to see a child and playing with them, only to not pick them in the end, and it’s worse because of the fact the cat-boy had got attached to him instantly. He still remembers the _you’re mine_ Joonmyun had whispered. He still remembers the feeling of Joonmyun nuzzling him, whiskers against his cheek.

“You can’t just play with a child and then say, _oh I need to think about it_ —not to their face! That makes them think they’re an afterthought; that you don’t really care.”

“What was I supposed to say?” Jongin spits. “Sure, I’ll take you home with me even though I’ve known you approximately 10 minutes? Sure, come and stay in my messy house where I have no food and no spare bedroom and nothing for you to do? He’s _not_ an animal. It’s not that easy.”

“It doesn’t matter what you should have said, you _shouldn’t_ have told him that you’ll think about it.”

“I need _time_ ,” Jongin shoots out, feeling upset. “It’s a big—it’s a _huge_ decision. He’s a thinking, talking, walking child with cat ears and a tail and it’s—it’s like adoption. I can’t just do it on a whim. I’ve got to check I’ve got the money to support him, things for him to do. I’m not you, Taemin. I’m not someone who will just _buy a pet_ without thinking hard about it, and then find things for him to do later, a place for him to sleep later.”

“Minho sleeps with me,” Taemin offers cheerfully.

“I didn’t need to know that,” Jongin replies.

“What? He’s eighteen years old,” Taemin protests. “It’s not like there’s anything _wrong_ with that.”

Jongin tries to block his ears as Taemin talks. When he’s finished, he says, “I don’t have anywhere for him to stay. I only have one bedroom.”

“I’m sure he’ll just want to sleep with you,” Taemin says, shrugging his shoulders. “Cats like sleeping with humans just as much as dogs do. It makes them feel happy and loved.” He cocks his head. “Your bed is huge anyway.”

Jongin’s cheeks burn red at the thought of sharing his, admittedly large, bed with the young cat-boy. It’d be even worse if he turned into a cat during the night and then back again. “That’s—that’s probably not a good idea,” he manages to choke out.

Taemin rolls his eyes. “Oh, _please_. He’s a cat. Nothing’s going to happen. He’ll just want to be by your side and get snuggles.”

“Well, technically,” Jongin points out, “he’s only half cat.”

“I’d go with three-quarters cat,” Taemin says. “He’s a magic transforming cat. He’s a cat.”

Jongin finds this funny for some reason, and he chuckles a little hysterically into his hand. “I don’t know what to do, Taemin,” he says. “He—he told me I’m _his_. That he knew I was his when I arrived. What does that even _mean_?”

Taemin looks surprised, but he quickly schools his expression into one of mixed pity and annoyance. “It means what he said. He wants you to be his owner. He’s been waiting for you, Jongin. Leeteuk-hyung said he hasn’t wanted any of the other customers. He wants _you_.”

Jongin gulps and heads them towards Taemin’s house. Maybe Minho’s nose in his crotch will be enough familiarity and normality to settle the racing in his chest and the confusion in his mind because nothing seems to make sense.

\---

The first thing Minho does, when they arrive, is run up to Taemin, wrap his arms around his neck and press an enormous and slobbery kiss against his cheek. Jongin wrinkles his nose in disgust.

Taemin fends Minho off with a laugh and wipes his cheek with his sleeve.

“I missed you, I missed you!” Minho chants, and then throws himself at Jongin, who has to grab hold of the door or risk overbalancing.

“You saw me two days ago,” Jongin says, though he grudgingly scratches behind Minho’s spiky ears.

Minho woofs cheerfully, and then backs away, to look behind Jongin. “You didn’t bring me a playmate!” he whines, and then frowns. “I thought you were going to bring me a playmate?”

Jongin suddenly thinks Minho would get on awfully well with Chanyeol.

“Chanyeol!” Minho all-but cheers, when Jongin says this aloud. “I like Chanyeol! Can you bring me Chanyeol?”

“He’s on hold,” Taemin says, and walks into the living room, sitting down on the couch. Jongin follows him and Minho drops his head into Jongin’s lap. This is familiar territory. Jongin feels less strange. “Someone else wants him. Anyway, what do you know about Joonmyun?”

“Joonmyun-Umma?” Minho asks. “He’s the mother of all of the pets there. He’s been there forever. Nobody wants him because of—because of _stuff_.”

“We know,” Jongin says, a little more glumly than he’d meant.

“Oh, good,” Minho says. “I like him. He’s a little boring but he’s cute and he always looked after me. He’s good for snuggles in cat form. He can get the babies to sleep and he can even make Chanyeol less excitable.”

These are almost all things Jongin had witnessed. He nods.

“Why?” Minho asks.

“He likes Jongin,” Taemin says cheerfully.

Minho lights up, and sits back on his haunches to clap his hands together like a seal. “You should get him! You should get him! You should get him!” he chants. “I’d really like to see him again! And he cooks really well.” He cocks his head for a moment. “I think he’d suit you. You’d like him. Oh, Hyung, _please_!”

“It’s convincing Jongin that’s the hard part,” Taemin says, as if Jongin isn’t even there. “Jongin keeps talking about how there’s no room in his house and nowhere for Joonmyun to sleep and nothing for him to do.”

“Just buy him books! He likes books. And he’ll just sleep in your bed, Hyung. Pets like to sleep with their Masters.”

Jongin’s cheeks burn red again. “I just—” he begins, before stopping.

“Wait a minute,” Minho says, eyes wide, speaking to Taemin. “Taemin—you said he likes Hyung? How do you know?”

“He said Jongin was his,” Taemin said. “Why?”

Minho’s eyes widen even further and he leans into Jongin’s space again, putting his hands on his knees and looking up at him with a strange, wistful expression on his face. “You,” he begins, “are _so lucky_.”

“Why?” Jongin asks, a confused expression growing on his face. He doesn’t _feel_ lucky.

“Hyung, he _claimed_ you,” Minho says. “That’s—that’s.” He shakes his head. “You know about soulmates?”

“Yeah?” Jongin says uncertainly, though he hopes this conversation isn’t going in the direction he thinks it’s going.

“It’s like that. All pets have one owner for them. They can go to other owners and feel perfectly happy there, but there might be something missing, and that’s the connection with that _one owner_. And it’s really rare and really special when they find their owner. You’re Joonmyun’s. You’re the one owner he’s been searching for his _whole life_. He doesn’t just like you, he _loves_ you.”

“He doesn’t even know me,” Jongin says, still feeling uncomfortable. “He might grow to hate me.”

“Joonmyun isn’t capable of hate,” Minho says, shaking his head.

“But _even so_ ,” Jongin argues. “He likes someone he doesn’t know, what if I don’t match up to his expectations?”

“He’ll change them,” Minho says. “Hyung, he only wants you—no matter who you are or what you’re like. You are the only owner for him and if you don’t take him, he’ll never choose an owner. He’ll grow up in the pet shop, looking after all the new babies. He’ll never leave.”

The guilt settles in Jongin’s stomach like lead, and stays there throughout the rest of his time at Taemin’s, his journey home, and even as he makes himself dinner. The food turns to lead in his stomach as well.

From what Minho had said, he’s essentially Joonmyun’s other half. He’d have to live with knowing he’d thrown away Joonmyun’s future. He’d have to live with it for the rest of his life.

He dreams about living with Joonmyun, the cat snuggled into his side as they watch television together, Joonmyun standing at the hob cooking, his tail up underneath the apron, still in happiness, his body against his in bed, rumbling as he purrs, and he wakes up thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

\---

He can’t go back to Leeteuk’s that day due to having to work, so he passes through the day in a daze of paperwork and daydreams and avoids his co-workers. The next day. He’ll go back the next day.

Jongin heads to the pet shop during his day off. He has money for the adoption in his wallet and the necessary paperwork in his briefcase, detailing the size of his flat and if he can afford to look after another person, and he fixes a smile on his face as he enters the front of the shop. Leeteuk looks up as he enters and smiles.

“You came back!” he says. “I’m glad! Chanyeol left and it’s been very quiet. Joonmyun has had nothing to do and he’s been moping. He hasn’t turned into a cat _once_.”

“I thought about it,” Jongin says, “and I’d like to try.” He gathers his paperwork, but Leeteuk waves him away.

“Taemin-sshi told me what kind of person you are. I think you’ll be good for Joonmyun, and he’ll be good for you. Plus I’m pretty sure he’s claimed you, so it doesn’t matter.” He takes the money, though. Probably because Joonmyun, due to living with him for so many years, must have cost them a fair bit.

Jongin fills in the paperwork Leeteuk offers him, signing off on the contract—knowing it’s _permanent_ now—, and then heads into the back room, where Joonmyun is curled up against the back wall, a new book in his hand. He’s wearing glasses today, strangely shaped ones that hook around his cat ears which keep twitching.

“Joonmyun,” Leeteuk calls, and the cat looks up from his book.

“Mrow?” Joonmyun asks when he sees Jongin, who smiles a little nervously.

“Jongin’s here to take you home,” Leeteuk says, and Joonmyun purrs loudly, smile wide and happy, crinkling his eyes from behind his absurd glasses. He stands up and runs over to Jongin, stopping short of him.

“Th-thank you,” he says nervously, stretching out a hand for Jongin to shake. Jongin does so, rolling his eyes.

“What were you going to do?” he asks, raising an eyebrow, and Joonmyun blushes and looks away, shyly. “It’s okay, you can be a cat with me,” Jongin tries to reassure him, thinking he’ll probably have to get used to it anyway, and Joonmyun purrs and leans up to press his cheek against Jongin’s, rubbing their skin together. His arms slide around Jongin’s waist.

“Mrow,” Joonmyun says happily, and then purrs his loudest yet.

He doesn’t want to let go of Jongin, to the other pets’ utmost amusement, as they keep teasing him. Jongin eventually gets them out of the door and into the pet shop.

“Are you going to buy me a collar?” Joonmyun asks. Jongin gulps. He hasn’t thought about such things before.

“Um,” Jongin says. “Do you want one?”

Joonmyun nods and nuzzles Jongin another time.

“Um, okay?” Jongin says unsurely, and turns to Leeteuk, who beams and leads him to a part of the shop where there are rows upon rows of differently coloured collars. Joonmyun separates himself from Jongin (finally) to peruse the shelves. Jongin rubs his cheek and shoulders absently, feeling the ghost of Joonmyun’s warmth there. He doesn’t understand.

Joonmyun finds a collar within a few minutes of looking. Jongin doesn’t look at it, just takes it from him and hands it to Leeteuk, distantly noticing the ring of a bell.

Leeteuk looks at it for a moment and then barks out a short laugh. “Of course you would!” He chuckles loudly. Jongin still doesn’t look, just hands the money over and drops the collar into Joonmyun’s hands.

“You won’t put it on me?” Joonmyun pouts. He looks almost absurd doing it, but somehow it’s effective, and Jongin sighs and clips it around Joonmyun’s neck. He feels like this is it, this little gesture is claiming Joonmyun in return.

He knows he will never be able to turn back the clock now. Joonmyun is his for life.

\---

Before he can take Joonmyun home he has to collect Joonmyun’s belongings, despite Joonmyun’s protests that he doesn’t care. He ends up walking them home anyway, with Joonmyun clinging onto his hand in a way that bothers Jongin intensely, but he doesn’t want to tell Joonmyun off so soon, so he says nothing. When they reach his car, in the flat’s parking space, he convinces the cat-boy to let go of him so he can drive, and the cat does, pouting but obedient.

They drive back to the shop, and Leeteuk leads them up the stairs to the bedrooms, where they spend the next hour packing Joonmyun’s clothes and books into boxes to take down to the car.

“Will you miss it?” Jongin asks, as Joonmyun is rolling up socks.

“Here?” Joonmyun asks. “No. I’ll miss Jinho and Jinri and the other children. But not this place.”

“But isn’t it Home?” Jongin frowns. He still calls the house he’d grown up in Home. This is where Joonmyun grew up.

“No,” Joonmyun says. “My home is with you.”

If anyone else had said it, Jongin would be fake-retching, but it’s Joonmyun, and Jongin thinks he isn’t entirely wrong.

\---

They say goodbye to all of the other pets once the car is full. Jinri and Jinho both cry, and Joonmyun kisses both of them on the nose, telling them they are beautiful and they will surely find owners soon, and until they do he’ll visit them as often as he can. “You’ll have to be the man about the place,” he tells Jinho, now the only boy pet there. He scratches Yoona and Yuri under the chin and behind the ears, and then he turns to Juhyun, whose eyes are watering. He gives her a hug and she clutches him to her in return, licks his cheek quickly, and hands him a book, which he takes, holding it close to him.

“I’ll miss you, Umma,” she says, and he scratches her behind the ears as well until she purrs.

After this, Leeteuk takes them back into the shop. “There’s a Pet Owners Group I think you’d like to join,” he tells Jongin. “It meets on Thursday evenings. It’s for new owners and it’d be nice for both you and Joonmyun. I think Chanyeol’s owner runs it.” He hands Jongin a card.

Jongin thanks him, but internally has no intention of joining. He’s too proud for that.

They head out to the car, Joonmyun silent. The drive home is quiet, the cat-boy watching the world go by, head resting against the class. Jongin makes no attempt to talk to Joonmyun. He thinks he probably needs time to think.

When they reach Jongin’s— _their_ —flat, on the third floor, Jongin unlocks the door and begins to take boxes inside. He knows already that there isn’t enough storage space for all of Joonmyun’s belongings, but he’ll worry about that later. He stores the boxes in the corners of his sitting room as Joonmyun explores, his tail in the air, swishing about. Jongin is suddenly glad he has nothing breakable in the house, aside from crockery and his electronics. There’s nothing for Joonmyun to knock off shelves and smash.

When all of the boxes are inside the house, Jongin finds Joonmyun in the kitchen, nose in the fridge, which has some almost-expired meat, eggs, milk, and little else in it. Joonmyun’s nose is wrinkled and he frowns, tail wagging with annoyance.

“There’s rice in the cupboards,” Jongin protests. He’s not _that_ hopeless, after all.

Joonmyun heaves a sigh and then heads over to open the cupboards. “We need to go shopping later,” he tells Jongin, who feels surprised that Joonmyun’s settled in so quickly. He doesn’t quite understand it. Joonmyun was almost crying less than an hour ago.

“Okay,” Jongin says, and then moves into the sitting room to watch the television, because Joonmyun clearly knows what he’s doing.

He falls asleep during the programme and wakes up to hands scrunching the t-shirt he’s wearing above his heart and a soft nose pressed against his jaw. Joonmyun is purring loudly and seems content, even as he noses Jongin awake.

“Food’s ready,” Joonmyun says quietly, when he realises Jongin is awake. He climbs off Jongin seemingly regretfully, and then heads back into the kitchen, tail swishing a little as he goes.

Jongin follows after he stretches and yawns once. The food smells fantastic and, if possible, tastes even better. Jongin has absolutely no idea how Joonmyun made such a good meal out of meat, eggs and rice. “You really _are_ good at cooking,” he compliments Joonmyun, who purrs happily with that self-satisfied expression on his face that all cats have when they are happy.

“I like to cook,” he says, as he spoons rice into his mouth.

“I’m not very good at it,” Jongin admits almost sheepishly. “It’s why I never have any food.”

“I’ll find good food,” Joonmyun says, and Jongin nods and turns back to his dinner.

Once they finish eating, Jongin dumps the dishes in the sink and leads them back into the sitting room to watch the news. Joonmyun perches awkwardly on the edge of the sofa beside him, looking a little uncomfortable. “Make yourself at home,” Jongin tells him.

Joonmyun still looks unsure. He meows and bites one of his fingers and Jongin can see two parts of him warring with each other—the cat part which wants to settle, and the human part which wants to be polite.

“Come on, it’s your home too,” Jongin says, and Joonmyun visibly gives into his cat-self, and curls up next to Jongin. Jongin suddenly thinks that if Joonmyun were even smaller than he currently is, he probably would have curled up on his lap. As it is, Joonmyun is flush against Jongin’s side, warming him through his clothes, and his smaller body vibrates as he purrs.

Joonmyun seems far less interested in the television than he is with nuzzling into Jongin, and soon he falls asleep, much as Jongin had earlier. He looks tiny and innocent, like a small child. It’s cute, though Jongin would never say it aloud. Instead he scratches Joonmyun’s ears gently, and, without waking up, Joonmyun rests an arm around Jongin in a kind of half-hug, and buries his nose further into him. Jongin smiles, and, after a while, finds himself drifting off as well.

When he wakes up early the next morning, Joonmyun is still asleep. Somehow they’ve rearranged themselves so Joonmyun is wrapped fully around Jongin, keeping him warm, and Jongin thinks he wouldn’t be averse to waking like this more often.

Then he sits up, careful not to jostle Joonmyun more than he needs to, and his back protests at his sleeping position, and he thinks _maybe not_.

\---

Jongin has to work today, and he knows he can’t take Joonmyun with him.

He showers quickly, hoping that his pet would be awake when he is clean and dressed, but he isn’t. He doesn’t want to wake Joonmyun, though, but he doesn’t want the cat to be scared, so he writes a quick note, telling Joonmyun to help himself to Jongin’s meagre library, grabs a cereal bar from the cupboard and hurries to work.

“I heard you were buying a pet?” Minseok says when he reaches the office, not avoiding the others this time.

“Who told you?” Jongin asks, glowering a little.

“Minho told Lu Han on their play-date,” Minseok says cheerfully, ignoring Jongin’s glare. Lu Han is his nineteen year old chinchilla. He and Minho hit it off famously the first time they met, and Minseok and Taemin have been friends ever since. Jongin regularly wishes he’d never introduced them.

“I hate him,” Jongin grumbles, making a mental note to throw a stick far into a river next time he sees Minho, just to screw with Taemin.

“Did you get one in the end?”

“Uh,” Jongin says, “yeah.”

Minseok beams. “Aren’t they the best? Who did you get? Is it that cat?”

Jongin nods. “Yeah,” he says. “He’s called Joonmyun.”

“Aww,” Minseok says, smiling. “Is he cute?”

Jongin shrugs, not willing to answer that yet, and Minseok continues smiling at him, as if that’s all the answer he needed.

“You should come to our pet owners group,” Minseok says. “We meet on Thursdays.”

“I thought that was for new owners?” Jongin says, frowning. “Haven’t you had Lu Han for forever?”

“Seven years,” Minseok says. “Best decision I ever made. Even if he says he thinks I was a hamster in another life.” The tone of his voice is slightly annoyed, but he laughs anyway. “I run it with Wu Yifan,” he continues. “It’s our group. It’s not _just_ for new owners. Taemin’s in it too.”

Jongin has never heard of Wu Yifan, but he presumes he must be Chanyeol’s new owner, because Leeteuk had said it was his group. “Um,” he says, and then wonders why Taemin never told him he had a group of friends Jongin doesn’t know.

“Come on, it’ll be fun! You’ll like some of the guys a lot. There are two lots of us. There’s a big group that meets earlier, and there’s the four of us who stay afterwards. There’s me, Yifan, Byun Baekhyun and Zhang Yixing. You’ll like them. And we have six pets between us.”

Jongin scrunches up his face. “I’m not sure,” he says.

“It’ll be good for Joonmyun,” Minseok continues. “He’ll like to have friends, I’m sure. He can’t just have you forever, he’d be bored stiff.”

“I’ll think about it,” Jongin assures Minseok, and then heads across to his desk. He’ll mention it to Joonmyun later, see what he thinks.

He hasn’t even seen Minho again yet. He might not _want_ to meet any more pets after seeing him again.

\---

Later that evening, when Jongin gets back to his house, he opens the front door to hear _noise_.

The noise, he discovers, is caused by Taemin and Minho being in his house. The television is on, and there are pans clanging loudly in the kitchen. Joonmyun is nowhere to be seen.

“Did someone organise a party and not tell me?” Jongin asks, frowning.

Taemin grins at him from the sofa, where he’s sprawled. “Jongin! There you are! I came over to see you and your cat let me in. You didn’t tell me you’d gone and picked him up!”

“Yeah,” Jongin says, because what else can he say? “I got him yesterday.”

“He looks pretty bored,” Taemin tells him. “He’s read about four books today alone, as far as I can tell. You should get him things to do. Toys to play with. I’m sure he’d like that.”

Jongin nods absently. “Where is he?” he asks. Part of him is a little surprised that he didn’t come to see him when he opened the door, like Minho does. He’d kind of liked the idea of being greeted when he arrived home. It wouldn’t be a  _hello, honey_ , or anything, but it’d still be nice.

“He’s baking with Minho,” his friend tells him, which explains the banging in the kitchen.

Jongin heads back out into the hallway and toes his shoes off, having forgotten to do it when he first entered, and then makes his way towards the kitchen.

The kitchen is white.

There’s flour everywhere, and a couple of cracked eggs on the floor. Joonmyun is standing in the middle of the room, as white as the rest of it. His clothes, his hair, his face are all streaked with flour.

Minho is almost as bad, though he seems more interested in the batter they successfully made, and is licking it off his fingers. Jongin is rather appreciative that he isn’t just licking it out of the bowl.

He stands there for a few minutes, wordless and dumbstruck at what is before him—what did they  _do_ ?—, before Joonmyun notices him, and falls on the floor in his surprise, purring loudly. A cloud of flour explodes from him as he lands, which would be funny if Jongin weren’t tired and hadn’t just come home to a disaster zone.

“I’m sorry!” Joonmyun wails, curling up in on himself and Jongin is suddenly hit with déjà vu.

But Minho’s there too. “We wanted to bake you cookies,” he says around his fingers, which are still in his mouth. “Myunnie’s baked before so yeah but then I dropped the flour and—don’t blame it on him!” He drops onto the floor and even though he  _should_ have expected it, Jongin doesn’t expect the floury nudge.

“Minho!” he complains, trying to shove the dog away. He rubs at his trousers, only succeeding in smudging the flour over his fly and making it more obvious. He groans loudly and heads out into the hallway. “Stay there!” he barks over his shoulder.

He heads to the bathroom and takes two large towels out of the cupboard, before taking them back into the kitchen. He drops the towels over one of the kitchen chairs. “Are you going to finish making the cookies?” he asks, with a sigh, and Joonmyun nods his head. Minho’s joined him on the floor and they’re almost snuggled together, making each other even whiter as they exchange flour. “Okay,” Jongin sighs. “Finish the cookies, and then clean this place up. I’ll help, if you need me to. And then—only then—go and shower and clean yourselves up.”

Joonmyun smiles, shoulders sagging with obvious relief, like he’d thought he was going to be scolded. Jongin nearly had, but it’s not like they had set fire to the kitchen—it’s just flour, it’ll wash. He’d forgotten what children are like. They need  _rules_ .

The cookies go in the oven almost immediately, and then the two pets wash their hands and arms and obediently set to wiping down surfaces. They work quickly and quietly, although they have some problems with certain tricky parts of the kitchen.

When they reach the point that their dirtiness hinders their progress, Jongin tells them to shower. Minho goes first, taking one of the towels with him, because Taemin will probably take him home fairly soon—Jongin  _hopes_ —and Joonmyun stands awkwardly in the room, a few feet from Jongin, shifting on his floury feet and not looking at him.

“Hey,” Jongin says. “What’s wrong?” He reaches a hand out to Joonmyun, who dodges just slightly out of his reach.

“I’m sorry,” Joonmyun repeats. “I just wanted to do something nice for you, for bringing me home with you and being my new Master.”

“Hold up,” Jongin says, “I’m not your Master.”

Joonmyun looks like he’s just slapped him across the face. His entire being seems to crumple, and his bottom lip starts to quiver. Jongin realises he’s just said something wrong.

The thing is, he  _isn’t_ Joonmyun’s Master. Owner, maybe; he’d allow that. But  _Master_ implies a kind of dominance. It implies ownership in a different way to what Jongin wants.

But now Joonmyun’s said it, he can’t shake it away, can’t forget it. He remembers seeing the owners with pets on leads, how it had seemed to him like a public bondage relationship. He doesn’t want that for them.

And yet he consented to buy Joonmyun a collar, didn’t he? He can see it now, now he’s bothering to look. It’s baby pink, with gold stitched butterflies, and it has a little gold bell attached. No wonder he could hear bells ringing.

“I’m your owner,” he tries. “I’m not your Master. I don’t want you to feel like that with me.” He reaches out to Joonmyun, who shuffles forwards and slides his cheek into Jongin’s palm, whiskers brushing his wrist.

“What should I call you, then?” Joonmyun asks softly.

“My name is Jongin,” Jongin says.

“I—I can’t call you that!” Joonmyun squeaks. “That’s—we’re not—” He pulls away and shakes his head frantically at this, scattering flour over the table and Jongin’s clothes. Joonmyun freezes when he sees what he’s done, and looks scared, but Jongin just sighs.

“It’s okay, I’ll shower too,” he says. “It’ll wash off.”

Joonmyun seems to relax a little at his words, so Jongin pets him again, rubbing gently behind his ears until Joonmyun’s purring. He seems rather skittish, Jongin thinks; a little scared cat, or dog, who wants to please his—the word makes him cringe, but— _Master_ , and wonders why. Leeteuk seemed nice enough, when he met him, so he can’t imagine where this came from.

“What about Hyung?” Joonmyun shakes his head once more. Jongin can see the suggestion has ruffled his metaphorical feathers somewhat. There must be some reason it’s so bad. Not as bad as his name, but bad enough.

“I can’t. Sir?”

“How old do you think I am?” Jongin exclaims, a little affronted. “I’m not my father. I’m only twenty-four.”

Joonmyun whimpers a little, hiding behind his hands. “Sorry,” he says automatically. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s okay,” Jongin reassures him quickly. “No harm done.”

To take his mind off it, Jongin instead tries to think of what else Joonmyun could call him, if his name and  _hyung_ are out of the question. He’s still thinking when Minho comes into the kitchen mostly naked and dripping wet and demands Jongin scratch his back for him. Jongin refuses point-blank.

“But I can’t reach!” Minho complains, and makes little snuffling puppy-whines that somehow make Jongin feel like he’s done something wrong. But Jongin knows Minho well enough to not be manipulated for long.

“Taemin, come and clothe your dog!” he calls into the sitting room, and hears a laugh before padding footsteps.

“Minho,” Taemin says, cocking his head. “What happened to you?”

“Flour,” Jongin explains. “I’ve probably got some spare clothes in the bedroom if you want. I’ve got to wash my cat.” He turns as he says this to find Joonmyun inching away from him.

“Uh, we’ve got to take the cookies out,” Joonmyun says quickly, and he grabs the oven mitts and does so, pulling the tray out and resting it on the side.

“Come along to the bathroom,” Jongin says, and Joonmyun backs away from him a little more.

“No!” he mewls pathetically and covers his face with his hands. “I don’t want to!” Jongin thinks if Joonmyun were younger he’d probably have stamped his feet, too.

“You’re dirty,” Jongin says, as if he  _needs_ to explain to Joonmyun why he needs to be washed, “we need to clean you.”

“Don’t make me go!” Joonmyun wails.

“But water’s awesome!” Minho says excitedly. Jongin had almost forgotten he and Taemin were there. Taemin appears to be unhelpfully laughing at Jongin’s pain. Jongin hates him.

Minho demonstrates how awesome water is by shaking himself next to Joonmyun and spraying him and the kitchen with droplets. Joonmyun throws himself under the kitchen table and rocks backwards and forwards, clutching his knees to his chest.

“Come on,” Jongin says, kneeling next to the table. “Come out of there. You can’t stay like that forever.”

Joonmyun hisses, and then wrinkles his nose at him and licks the back of his hand, trying to clean himself like a cat would. It doesn’t work, due to human saliva not being sticky and cleansing like a cat’s. All it does is smear the flour about and make his skin shine in the light.

“Surely you’ve had showers before?” Jongin says with a sigh.

“I don’t like them!” Joonmyun complains. “I used to shower with Jinho.”

Jongin rolls his eyes at the thought of this almost-eighteen year old cat-boy needing to shower with a fourteen year old hamster in order to clean himself.

At some point when they were talking under the table, Taemin had got Minho dressed in some old gym clothes of Jongin’s. Now they nibble on cookies and seem to openly laugh at Jongin’s misery. “I think we should be off,” Taemin says. “I’ll give you your clothes back later. Joonmyun, shower with Hyung, okay?” He says this last bit whilst leaning over, peering under the table at the cat-boy. Joonmyun merely blinks back at him. “Bye!”

“Bye, Hyung!” Minho says happily, as he skips out, a hand full of cookies. “Bye, Joonmyun!”

“Bye,” Jongin calls after them, a little distractedly, as they leave, only distantly noticing Joonmyun cringe at Minho’s use of  _hyung_ . “Is that what you want?” he asks, when the door’s shut behind them. “You want to shower with me?”

Joonmyun turns pink with embarrassment, but nods his head anyway.

Jongin sighs. “Come on, then,” he says, and heads out and down the hallway, towel in hand. “You should have said something.”

Joonmyun’s blush deepens and he says nothing. Jongin doesn’t keep at him. It’s only the second day they’re living together, so there’s plenty of time to get used to his rules.

Once in the bathroom, Jongin turns the shower on so it will heat up and begins shedding clothes easily, like Joonmyun is an actual cat and not a boy. Cats don’t judge—or, rather, cats judge but silently and they don’t always understand what’s acceptable. Jongin wonders if this wouldn’t be easier if Joonmyun  _was_ an actual cat, one he could pick up and dump in the sink even if he tried to scratch him. He then wonders absently if Joonmyun would scratch him if he picked him up and dumped him in the shower. He’s  _almost_ tempted to try it. Just shove him in with his clothes still on and turn the showerhead on him—but no, that’s too much like torture. He’d probably frighten his cat for life.

When he turns to Joonmyun, Joonmyun’s still very much dressed, trying to undo the buttons of his shirt slowly and awkwardly. He also seems to be trying his hardest not to look at Jongin at all. Jongin doesn’t understand it.

Instead of trying, he steps into the shower, waiting for Joonmyun to finish undressing. But Joonmyun is still going slowly, only half his buttons undone, so Jongin threatens, “If you’re not undressed in thirty seconds, I am going to pull you in here with me dressed like that.”

This works somewhat, as Joonmyun gets the shirt undone. He’s wearing a vest underneath, and Jongin sighs.

Joonmyun does eventually get undressed and climb nervously into the shower, like he’s going to be scolded or punished for something. Jongin just rolls his eyes and hands him the shampoo.

Joonmyun can’t reach his tail, or so he claims (Jongin is pretty sure he can reach, but allows him to be silly anyway), so Jongin helps. He doesn’t understand why Joonmyun’s purrs get louder each time he strokes the base of it, and why he keeps himself turned away. He doesn’t understand at all.

After their shower, which is remarkably quick but involves rather a lot of Jongin re-rinsing Joonmyun’s hair and tail, Jongin rubs Joonmyun dry in the big towel until he purrs loudly and snuggles into Jongin’s side, and then finds them both some pyjamas to wear, feeling rather sleepy. They eat the cooled cookies for dinner before heading to bed.

Joonmyun crawls in next to him but doesn’t touch him, but when Jongin wakes up in the middle of the night there’s a small, happy, furry mountain on top of his chest, purring away. In his sleepy state this seems perfectly normal, so he goes back to sleep, regardless of the weight. When he wakes again in the morning, Joonmyun is flush against him, completely naked, and Jongin tries rather hard to ignore how awkward it is. He knows Joonmyun doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s a cat, after all.

\---

Thursday passes like a dream, except for Minseok constantly reminding him that the meeting is tonight.

But when he gets home, Joonmyun is curled up at the end of their bed, fast asleep, and Jongin hasn’t the heart to wake him until long after the meeting’s started. He sends a hurried text to Minseok to explain he can’t make it, not wanting to just stand them up. He gets a text back from Minseok glaring, but otherwise it seems okay. He also apologises on Friday as well, but Minseok seems fine, if a little stressed.

“My cousin is going into hospital,” he says, “and he needs someone to look after his puppy. I’ve never had a dog before, and what if Lu Han doesn’t like her? I’ve been told she’s really active and playful.”

“Isn’t Lu Han playful, too?” Jongin hasn’t seen the chinchilla for some time, but that’s how he remembers him being. He gets on with Minho after all. Jongin wonders if he gets on with Chanyeol, too.

“Well, yeah, I guess you could say that,” Minseok says, “but he’s matured a bit in the past year or so. I’m not sure a puppy is the best thing for him, but there’s nobody else to take her. I’m going to pick her up tonight and I’m just so worried.”

“I could come with you, if you wanted?” Jongin finds himself offering without quite understanding why.

“That would be great,” Minseok says, and he smiles, looking relieved. “But is it okay? Joonmyun won’t miss you?”

Jongin shrugs. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” he says.

But Minseok must see something that isn’t quite there in his eyes, because he says, “We can pick him up if you want? I’d like to meet him.”

Jongin can’t think of a believable excuse for why it would be a bad idea, so when work ends, he drives home in his car, Minseok following in his own, and climbs up the stairs to pick Joonmyun up.

“Joonmyun?” he calls when he opens the door, but he needn’t have bothered, because the moment he opens the door, Joonmyun scampers out of the kitchen in a pair of Jongin’s sleep shorts and nothing else and throws himself at Jongin much the way Minho does. Jongin catches him around the waist, for the first time (he’s oblivious, even in the shower) properly noticing that Joonmyun’s back is covered in a thin layer of brown fur, shorter and softer than body hair, and allows himself to be nuzzled.

“You’re home!” Joonmyun purrs happily.

“I’m just about to go out again,” Jongin says, and Joonmyun’s smile drops. “My colleague Minseok is looking after a pet for his cousin and we need to pick her up. Do you want to come, too?”

Joonmyun’s purrs get louder and he thrusts his nose back into Jongin’s cheek. “Okay!” he says, and makes to walk around Jongin and outside.

“No you don’t,” Jongin says, and he grabs Joonmyun by the waistband of his shorts, tugging him back in the house. “Clothes, first.”

Joonmyun looks confused at first, and then blushes a bright red and runs back into their bedroom. Jongin toes his shoes off and follows, slower, and finds Joonmyun sitting on the bed looking at two t-shirts. One of them is definitely Jongin’s. Jongin knows Joonmyun has clothes of his own, so he doesn’t really understand why Joonmyun wants to wear his.

“The red one,” he says, indicating the one that’s Joonmyun’s. Joonmyun nods and pulls it on, and then shimmies out of Jongin’s shorts, leaving him just in briefs. His legs are a little furry as well, and strongly muscled—presumably from his times as a cat.

Jongin throws him a pair of jeans so he’ll stop being so naked, because he can’t help looking and he doesn’t  _want_ to be looking. He  _shouldn’t_ look.

Once Joonmyun’s clothed, they head out to where the shoes are. Both slide theirs back on and head outside. Jongin leads the other down to Minseok’s car. He makes to sit in the front seat, but Joonmyun whines pathetically and Jongin ends up sliding into the backseat with him.

“Hello!” Minseok greets, once Jongin’s got his seatbelt around himself and is trying to wrestle Joonmyun off his lap and into the seat next to him. “I’m Minseok, I work with Jongin.”

“Hello,” Joonmyun says, almost shyly, and he stills immediately, allowing himself to be moved and the belt clipped around him. “I’m Joonmyun.”

“I know,” Minseok says with a laugh. “Jongin talks about you.”

Joonmyun turns pink, but he’s clearly happy with this. Jongin rolls his eyes and turns away.

They stop at Minseok’s to pick Lu Han up, and he runs out happily, hair and ears as silver as his tail and his large, round ears. He sits in the front passenger seat and leans over to kiss Minseok’s cheek, tail wagging slightly.

“Stop that,” Minseok says with a laugh, reaching out to still the movement of Lu Han’s tail, amidst Lu Han’s giggles of, “ _Minseok_ !” “We have guests.”

Jongin doesn’t understand, but Joonmyun’s eyes are wide and there’s a soft kind of smile in them.

Lu Han turns around just then. “Hi!” he says, and then chirps. “I’m Lu Han! You’re Hyung’s cat, right?”

Joonmyun nods his head, although Jongin notices he bristles a little when Lu Han calls him  _hyung_ , though he isn’t entirely sure why Joonmyun doesn’t like it. Lu Han smiles and reaches out to scratch his ears, and Joonmyun lets him, leaning in, so he obviously doesn’t dislike him.

They drive to Minseok’s cousin’s house quickly, the two pets making small-talk together. When they arrive, Jongin climbs out and watches Joonmyun scramble out the same side of the car. He clamps onto Jongin’s hand once he’s out and trails after him like a child, but Jongin can’t really find it in himself to complain.

The puppy is a Cavalier Spaniel called Miyoung. She is even shorter than Joonmyun and probably in her mid-teens at most. She has long and wavy brown hair, floppy ears with the same wavy fur, and a somewhat bushy tail that droops behind her.

The first thing she does is rip herself out of the grasp of Minseok’s cousin, a man who looks like he needs to be in the hospital  _yesterday_ , due to the colour of his skin and how shaky he is, and throw herself at Minseok. “Hi!” she says. “Will you be looking after me, now?”

“Yes,” Minseok says, patting her on the head, and she beams. “I’m Minseok, and this is Lu Han.” He indicates for Lu Han to come forward, and he does, reaching out to scratch behind Miyoung’s ears.

“Yay!” she says, and bounces for a second before dropping to the floor. “Rub my tummy!” she exclaims, and Lu Han kneels and scratches lightly through the pink t-shirt she’s wearing. Her owner looks on fondly.

“These are Jongin and Joonmyun,” Minseok adds, and Joonmyun sits down beside her. He doesn’t get to say anything, because she rolls over, knocking him to the ground, and licks his cheek. Joonmyun laughs a little. Jongin supposes she must remind him of Minho and Chanyeol. She certainly reminds  _him_ of them.

They leave soon after, collecting a suitcase of Miyoung’s belongings from the cousin and bidding him goodbye, and Miyoung sits in the backseat of the car excitedly. Jongin has to clip her into her seat or she’d be all over the car, bouncing about. He’s rather relieved when Minseok stops at their house first, letting them out.

“Thanks and good luck,” Jongin says. “Bye, Miyoung, Lu Han, Hyung.”

Joonmyun nods his goodbyes as well, and then they head back home, Jongin thinking he’s rather glad Joonmyun is nowhere near as bouncy or boisterous as he could have been.

\---

After collecting Miyoung, they head out to go shopping. Joonmyun keeps one hand on him at all times, a little possessively. Again, Jongin can’t find it in him to stop him—or at least not in public.

Joonmyun cooks when they get back, Jongin settled on the kitchen table with his laptop, and the week passes much like this; easy, simple. Joonmyun reads every book in the house and Jongin gives him a key and pocket money to buy some new ones, and comes back to find Joonmyun also bought a toy mouse. The cat—the real cat—scrabbles with it like a kitten, eventually picking it up in his mouth and scampering over to deposit it at Jongin’s feet and rub against him. Jongin leans down to pet him and waits for him to turn back into Joonmyun.

When Thursday arrives, Joonmyun is clearly excited to meet new pets, and he runs up to Jongin when he comes home, fully dressed except for his shoes.

“Can we go now?” he begs, eyes wide and happy, and Jongin laughs and tells him to wait for a little while, because nobody will be there yet. Joonmyun pouts but allows himself to be sat on the sofa.

When the time comes to leave, Joonmyun pulls on his shoes hastily and attaches himself to Jongin, who leads him down to the car.

The drive to the meeting place is quick despite the traffic, and they arrive a few minutes early. Minseok waves them over to where Lu Han, Minho and Miyoung are playing together, Miyoung and Minho scrapping like tiny puppies.

“Joonmyun-oppa!” Miyoung squeals when she catches sight of him, and then Chanyeol barrels out of nowhere to knock Joonmyun onto the floor and nibble his ears.

“Umma!” he says, when he lets go of Joonmyun. “You’re here!”

Joonmyun nods and scratches Chanyeol’s droopy ears.

The door Chanyeol had left from opens again and a tall man with blond hair appears. He’s probably a few years older than Jongin is, maybe even older than Minseok.

“Chanyeol,” he says simply, and Chanyeol scampers over immediately, settling beside his Master—Yifan, Jongin remembers.

“Joonmyun!” Chanyeol says. “It’s Joonmyun!”

Joonmyun bows his head in greeting. Jongin feels like bowing as well.

“Jongdae,” Yifan calls into the room. “There’s a new cat.”

Jongdae comes out a moment later, a black cat a little taller than Joonmyun, and probably only a little older. He takes one look at Joonmyun, sticks his nose in the air, and saunters haughtily back into the room he’d left from. Joonmyun looks hurt, so Jongin pulls him to his feet and scratches him behind the ears gently.

They begin filing into the room after this. There’s a circle of nine chairs laid out, and cushions on the floor. Yifan is sitting in the largest chair, Jongdae sitting primly beside him, tail wrapped neatly around him. Chanyeol is on the other cushion, lying on his stomach and watching Miyoung on the cushion next to him. Every so often he sneaks his tail over to her and she giggles.

Next to Miyoung is Lu Han, and they’re sitting with Minseok, and next to Minseok are Taemin and Minho, but Jongin doesn’t know anybody else. He sits in the empty chair between a guy with copious amounts of eyeliner and some kind of black and white rodent pet with a tiny tail, and a girl with a grumpy black cat who sits as primly as Jongdae. Joonmyun sits on the cushion beside him and cowers back into Jongin’s hand when the cat turns to glare at him.

Once everyone has sat down, they introduce themselves. Yifan goes first.

“I’m Wu Yifan, I run this club with Minseok,” he says, and Jongin nods. “These are my pets, Jongdae and Chanyeol. I hope you will enjoy your time here with us, you and your cat.”

The other people then begin. The girl next to Taemin is called Choi Sooyoung, and she has a rabbit with long droopy ears who is called Sunkyu.

Next to them is a man called Zhang Yixing with two puppies, a husky and a white poodle, who are tangled together and don’t want to separate when Yixing tries to introduce them as Zitao and Sehun. He ends up dragging them apart forcefully and they pretend to cry on him, and he gives a huge sigh and lets them fall back together.

The eyeliner-guy next to Jongin is Byun Baekhyun, and his rodent is a guinea pig called Kyungsoo. He smiles at Joonmyun kindly and Joonmyun slides his cushion closer to him.

“I’m Kim Jongin,” Jongin introduces himself a little nervously. “This is Joonmyun.” Joonmyun rests his head on Jongin’s knee briefly and Jongin does his best not to blush.

The girl on the other side of Jongin is Kim Taeyeon, and her cat is Jessica. Jessica huffs when she’s introduced and turns away, and Jongin thinks there’s something strange about their relationship that he probably doesn’t want to get into.

The last person is Amber Liu, and she has a tall, tall ferret called Qian, and a black and white kitten, almost as tall, called Soojung who turns out to be Jessica’s younger sister.

The meeting is easy. They talk about things that have happened in the week, about things they want to do. It’s just like a group of friends, really.

The pets are allowed to play with each other if they want. Joonmyun slides onto Kyungsoo’s cushion to talk to him, and Jessica and Soojung stick together, Jessica grooming the kitten with her fingers. After a few moments alone, Qian crawls over to sit with Joonmyun and Kyungsoo, and Sunkyu comes bounding over shortly after, her nose twitching as she greets Joonmyun. Jongin smiles fondly at them before he’s dragged into a conversation about what he does.

The end of the meeting comes far too quickly, and the girls and Taemin head out, though not before Minho hugs Jongin in a rather embarrassingly touchy way. Jongin wonders if he should leave as well, but Minseok shakes his head when Jongin makes to follow Taeyeon, so he stays with the other four and their seven pets.

This meeting is even less formal than the previous one. Zitao and Sehun instantly start play-fighting again, and Chanyeol knocks Miyoung over.

Jongdae crawls off his cushion, losing some of his primness. He beckons Joonmyun over with a crooked finger and Joonmyun crawls over to him nervously. Jongin can see his tail swish.

When he reaches Jongdae, the other cat gives him a once over before he bowls both of them over. Jongin clutches the arm of the chair. He isn’t sure if he should stop it or not, but Yifan doesn’t seem concerned, turning back to Minseok almost immediately.

The two cats roll over each other, Joonmyun on top for a second and then Jongdae. Eventually Jongdae pins Joonmyun down on his stomach, Jongdae settling his hips against Joonmyun’s lower back. He scratches Joonmyun’s tail and smirks as Joonmyun makes a noise somewhere between a purr and a mewl, before letting Joonmyun roll over to face him. Joonmyun leans up to lick Jongdae’s cheek in a gesture Jongin knows is submissive. He’s acknowledging that Jongdae won.

Jongdae pulls away from Joonmyun. “You’ll do,” he says, and then leans in to lick Joonmyun’s cheek in return. “I’m Jongdae. You can call me Hyung, or Boss, I don’t mind.”

Joonmyun mewls in confusion, but nods his head anyway. He seems grateful that the cat doesn’t hate him. Jongin starts to wonder if Jongdae was just trying to act cool in front of the girls.

A moment later his cat crawls back over to him. He’s crawling strangely, gingerly mincing along the floor, and Jongdae looks both proud and amused. Joonmyun settles on his cushion and brings his knees up to his chest, before resting his head against Jongin’s thigh, nuzzling his nose into it. Joonmyun’s cheek is shiny and Jongin contemplates asking where the bathroom is so he can wash his face, but decides against it.

They only stay another thirty minutes before Joonmyun yawns loudly, distracting everyone.

“Maybe you should take him home,” Minseok says with a smile.

Jongin nods. “Okay,” he says. “It was nice meeting everyone,” he adds, looking at the pets to make sure they know he means them as well. “Have a good evening.” He turns to Joonmyun, who’s moulded himself to his leg, eyes shut. “Well, come on, then.”

Joonmyun doesn’t seem to have the energy to stand, so Jongin hauls him to his feet, feeling surprised at how little his cat weighs. He leans into Jongin and Jongin ends up half-carrying him out to the car.

The ride home is even quicker than the ride there, and soon he’s trying to work out how to get Joonmyun inside.

“Carry me?” Joonmyun asks pathetically, his lower lip trembling.

“Not up three floors,” Jongin says. “You’re not _that_ light.”

He ends up carrying Joonmyun up the last floor anyway, Joonmyun having snuggled up against the tile as if he were going to sleep. Somehow he manages to get the door open despite the cat in his arms, and he ends up dropping Joonmyun onto the bed, where he curls up and passes out immediately without changing his clothes. Jongin shrugs and leaves him be. Cats sleep most of the time anyway, he just didn’t expect the tiredness to be so sudden.

\---

The next day, when Jongin arrives, he finds Taeyeon at work.

“Good morning,” she says. “I brought you something.”

Jongin barely spoke to Taeyeon, so it surprises him that she would bring him something so soon after meeting.

“Jessi has a load of old things for grooming,” Taeyeon says. “She won’t use them anymore, and Soojung and Jongdae both have enough. I figured you wouldn’t have bought any yet. Cats need to be groomed properly once a week, baths aren’t enough.” She hands him a bag, and when he pokes his head in he can see brushes and soaps. “You should probably ask him how he likes to be groomed. Jessi and Jongdae both like it soft, and Soojung likes it a bit rougher.”

The way she says it is so straightforward, but the words she uses has different connotations rising in his mind. Rough. _Likes it rough._ He shakes them away quickly and thanks her for her thoughtfulness. He probably wouldn’t have bought Joonmyun any special shampoo or brushes, so it’s nice she did.

Once he reaches home and he’s extracted Joonmyun’s arms from around his neck, he shows his cat the bag. “Taeyeon-sshi gave us this,” he says, and takes everything out. At the bottom there’s a pack of sweets and a tiny, soft ball, and Joonmyun’s eyes light up upon seeing them. “Do you want me to brush you?”

“Can we shower first?” Joonmyun asks, nosing into Jongin’s neck. Jongin laughs, a little uncomfortably.

Their shower is quick. Jongin uses the new shampoo on his cat, scrubbing it into his hair and fur. Joonmyun does absolutely nothing to help, rather pressing his stomach against Jongin’s side and nuzzling him. Jongin’s one bit of comfort is that he can’t feel any parts of Joonmyun that he wouldn’t necessarily want to.

Joonmyun turns away from him so he can wash his tail and Jongin again wonders why he does that.

Once they’re out of the shower, Jongin towels him down and then orders him to put on clothes. What Joonmyun puts on is his underwear and nothing else. When Jongin protests this, Joonmyun gives him the same sad eyes he always gives him, the ones Jongin isn’t yet immune to, and then drops over Jongin’s lap, stretching out on his stomach so Jongin can brush his back.

Joonmyun likes being brushed a bit harder than Jongin would have thought, if his purrs are anything to go by. When he starts moving his head into the brush, there comes a well-known _pop!_

Jongin continues to groom the now cat-Joonmyun, who walks in circles a few times before jumping up into the brush above his head. When Jongin brushes near his tail, he raises his bottom as well, purring loudly. Jongin laughs but keeps brushing as the cat gives up and drops into his lap and goes to sleep.

This time it’s a long time before the cat turns back into Joonmyun, but Jongin doesn’t mind, settling to watch the television until he does, still in Jongin’s lap and very naked and seemingly not inclined to move.

Jongin doesn’t know what to do.

\---

On Sunday, Joonmyun takes him back to Leeteuk’s pet shop. He goes there during the week, but Jongin hasn’t been back since he bought Joonmyun.

There’s been a new shipment of pets and a distinct lack of Joonmyun’s two favourites when they get there, though Juhyun is still there. Apparently a man came in and took both Jinri and Jinho with him. Joonmyun seems torn between crying and being happy for them, that they got to stay together.

Leeteuk has a new assistant, a teenage girl named Park Sunyoung who, they learn, has picked Juhyun. She just hasn’t taken her home yet.

The new pets are Henry, a young hedgehog who had been abandoned by the roadside, Ryeowook and Zhou Mi, two rabbits, Liyin, a mouse, and Sungmin, a pig. Jongin has never really thought about pigs and hedgehogs being pets, but he guesses that the scientists had been eager to test other types of pets. They aren’t any less cute than the more traditional pets, Sungmin with a curly tail and pinkish skin, and Henry with hair like spikes. He’s so shy he doesn’t talk, and Leeteuk explains that when he’s nervous or scared the spikes on his head can actually hurt you.

Joonmyun slides back into his role of pet shop mother easily, sitting with Henry and trying to look after him, reassure him that everything will be alright. Henry calms enough to let Joonmyun pet him, crawling into Joonmyun’s lap. Jongin feels a lump in his throat that he can’t explain.

When they head home, it’s to Joonmyun begging for Jongin to ask around for someone to adopt Henry. “He’s too cute to stay there,” he says. “Please.”

Jongin reluctantly agrees, but he has no idea who would want a pet hedgehog anyway.

(He’s just glad Joonmyun didn’t ask if they could take him.)

\---

Park Sunyoung with Juhyun and Cho Kyuhyun with Jinri and Jinho are the two new additions at the next meeting.

Sunyoung knows Amber and Sooyoung, but Kyuhyun doesn’t seem to know anyone. He keeps to himself after introductions, just listening and politely answering questions.

His pets, however, spend the entire session fighting each other to sit on Joonmyun’s lap and curl up under his chin. In the end they seem to compromise with Jinho in Joonmyun’s lap and Jinri in his. Kyuhyun looks at them with complete bafflement but Jongin just rolls his eyes.

Kyuhyun apologises to Jongin once the session is over. “I’m sorry—I have no idea what got into them. I hope your cat is okay?”

“It’s fine,” Jongin says, brushing it off. “Joonmyun treated them like his children at the pet shop, so they got attached to him. I’m sure he doesn’t mind.” In fact, he knows Joonmyun doesn’t mind, from the smile on his face and his arms wrapped around the children. He doesn’t want them to leave, making pathetic growling noises when Kyuhyun urges his pets to let Joonmyun go.

Jinri bursts into tears and sobs that she doesn’t want to leave Umma, and her crying nearly sets Jinho off as well. Joonmyun kisses them both again. “You have to go with Master,” he says to them. “Master is more important now.”

It takes another five minutes before they’ve settled down enough for Kyuhyun to pick them up. He carries Jinri on his back and Jinho clamps onto his hand and they leave like that. Joonmyun fidgets as they leave, and then, quite unembarrassed, clambers up onto Jongin’s lap to hug him.

Jongin pats him on the back and says, “There-there, they’ll be here next week,” but he’s not sure it helps.

Joonmyun refuses to move, even when Jongin tries to force him, so Jongin spends the next hour with his legs going numb.

Lu Han also seems to think it’s an excellent idea and climbs onto Minseok’s lap to Minseok’s clear annoyance. Lu Han’s tail won’t stop moving and it gets to the point where Minseok isn’t the only one scolding him.

“Public decency, Lu Han,” Yifan says tiredly, and then turns to where Chanyeol and Miyoung are all over each other—Jongin isn’t terribly surprised by the speed at which their relationship appears to have evolved. “That goes for you two, and the two over there.” He nods to Sehun and Zitao, whose legs are tangled together. Their heads are behind Yixing but Jongin thinks they may be kissing, or whatever the dog equivalent of kissing is. Yixing seems to have given up scolding them or trying to make them behave, but Jongin has noticed that sometimes he only needs to say, “Stop,” and they’ll obey him, even though outwardly they don’t seem very obedient.

Jongdae and Kyungsoo seem to be the only pets not embarrassing their owners, and Jongin feels somewhat jealous, even as Joonmyun attempts to mould himself to Jongin even more than before. It’s been weeks and he still doesn’t understand Joonmyun, though he’s glad the cat isn’t quite as shy and scared as before, because that confused him a lot. But this is strange as well.

He wonders if talking to someone else would help.

\---

He gets the chance to the next day when he’s sitting at his desk, a few minutes before lunchtime, and suddenly there’s Taeyeon next to him.

He blinks at her for a moment before saying, “Hello.”

“I work in the department next door,” she explains. “I believe I forgot to tell you last time.”

It appears that she wants to talk, which Jongin has no real problems with. They head out to have lunch together, Taeyeon taking him to a little sandwich shop that she says does the best tuna mayo there is.

“It’s nice to know someone else who has a cat,” she says, stirring the straw in her iced coffee. “Yifan-oppa is a bit scary. And Jongdae’s such a weird cat; I bet he wouldn’t be of any help, anyway. And Soojung and the new kitten are so young. I think Jessi and your Joonmyun are the same age. I’m a bit relieved, really. I’m glad you’ve joined our group.”

Jongin nods his head and takes a bite of his chicken tikka sandwich. “I’m glad, too. Thank you for the grooming stuff,” he says, when he’s swallowed.

“Did Joonmyun like them?”

He nods his head. “He likes being brushed a lot, he leans in to be brushed more. I think he likes his tail being brushed?”

“All cats like the base of their tail getting attention,” Taeyeon says with a laugh. “I mean, for obvious reasons.”

Jongin wants to ask what she means, but the way she’s laughing has him thinking it should be something obvious, and he doesn’t want her to laugh in his face.

They talk about their cats—or rather, Taeyeon complains about how much Jessi hates her when she doesn’t _need_ her, and he only brings up Joonmyun when asked—until lunch is over. Jongin quickly manages to ask if she can ask around to see if anyone wants a hedgehog, remembering his promise to Joonmyun somewhat belatedly. She assures him she’ll ask, and then heads back to her office. Jongin goes back to his computer.

He knows he shouldn’t be using the work internet for personal things, but he types, “Scratch cat lower back,” and searches.

“It’s a mating thing,” the internet informs him. “Or it’s a suspected mating thing, because nobody knows for certain. Scent glands are situated there and it’s a form of the cat claiming you, if he or she rubs against you. But when you scratch your cat and he or she raises her bum, they’re often waiting to be mounted.”

Jongin stares at this page. Joonmyun—when he scratches Joonmyun’s tail, he’s basically turning him on.

That certainly explains why Joonmyun keeps turned away from him, and why his purrs get louder and happier when he scratches him.

Jongin swears under his breath. He hadn’t been expecting that at all.

Since the internet is open and he’s not working anyway, he searches for the meaning of the names that pets use for their owners.

“Master is the standard name a pet uses for their owner. To be denied use of this name means that the owner doesn’t love the pet as much as the pet loves the owner.”

Jongin gulps, remembering his refusal to let Joonmyun call him _Master_ , and continues reading.

“When a pet uses _Hyung_ , _Oppa_ , or any other honorific, it means they are close to the human in question, with a good friendship. They, however, can use these honorifics with other pets with no problems.

“A human’s name can only be used by a pet in a romantic or sexual relationship with the human in question, so although a pet can call another pet’s Master _Hyung_ , unless they are dating they cannot use the human’s name before it. If a pet uses the human’s name before a relationship has been formed, it is usually a sign that the pet wishes to form such a relationship with this human, and they believe that this desire will be reciprocated.”

Jongin gulps another time, remembering how both Minho and Lu Han have referred to their Masters by name. “Crap,” he mumbles, and searches for chinchilla tails.

Chinchillas wag their tails when they’re horny.

“ _Crap_ ,” Jongin repeats, slightly too loudly. Minseok peers over the dividers between their desks and Jongin minimises the screen quickly, not wanting Minseok to know what he’s been misusing the computer for.

“What’s wrong?” Minseok asks.

Jongin wants, so badly, to reply with, “ _Everything_ ,” but he can’t.

\---

Now he has more knowledge than he had before, it is hard for Jongin to shower with Joonmyun, to help him wash himself. The idea that Joonmyun gets turned on from his help makes him uncomfortable.

He also knows, however, that he never actually helps Joonmyun get off. He just gets turned on and purrs loudly and that’s it. He never does anything more and he never asks for help. This confuses Jongin as well, but he doesn’t want to ask. He doesn’t know what Joonmyun does about it. Do cats—?

Trying to keep his mind off things, Jongin does, however, say, “I’m sorry I told you that you couldn’t call me Master. I didn’t know what it meant to you.”

Joonmyun turns to face him in the shower, eyes wide. “Master?” he asks.

“If you want, you can,” Jongin tells him. “You can call me whatever you want to.”

Joonmyun positively _squeals_. Jongin hadn’t realised how Joonmyun had been waiting for this. “Hyung,” Joonmyun says, and nuzzles Jongin’s chin. “Can I call you Hyung?”

It’s only been a few weeks since they met and Jongin brought him home, but he thinks that they’re remarkably close anyway. And he feels quite happy that Joonmyun feels the same way; that they’re close enough for this. “Sure,” he says, and pets Joonmyun, stroking behind his ears gently. Joonmyun looks like he’s just had all him dreams come true. He’s a funny thing, Jongin thinks, but he’s not sure he would change him for all the normal puppies in the world.

\---

The week again passes by quicker than Jongin could have thought. On his day off, they finally buy Joonmyun extra furniture. He’d been putting it off until he got paid, and now he has money. He buys a larger wardrobe and Joonmyun helps him move both of their clothes into it. Joonmyun pauses to nuzzle him, arms around his stomach in glee. Jongin wonders how it seems to Joonmyun. He wonders if his cat is only now seeing that he’s permanent.

Living with Joonmyun is actually far better than Jongin could ever have hoped for. Sometimes Joonmyun cleans the house, tidying up where Jongin would usually just leave belongings about the place—and now, with their new wardrobe, it’s easier for him, as well. He also cooks, and the kitchen is soon full of vegetables and fruit Jongin would never have bought if he were on his own. The different types of food work wonders for him, now he’s not just living off instant ramyeon and frozen mince. He feels better for it, and Minseok comments on how much better he looks. Though now he’s paying attention, Jongin wonders if there’s a sex joke hidden in there somewhere. He ignores it, if so.

When the third session arrives, Jongin is surprised to discover that Amber, the tomboy with the ferret and Jessica’s sister, is the one who’s got Henry. He sits snuggled next to her, on Qian’s cushion, resting his head on her thigh, and Jongin thinks they look a bit adorable. Joonmyun scampers over as soon as he is able, and spends the whole time with him and his two babies, who seem intrigued by the hedgehog. Juhyun, instead of sticking with them, sits with Jessica and Soojung, who seem to accept her even though she’s far more obedient and bookish than either of them.

Yixing, who never really says much and often looks off dozily into the distance when he’s not trying to get Zitao and Sehun to behave, spends the whole of the first session looking dreamily at the small group of pets sitting together. He even ignores when Baekhyun starts teasing him for being even more out of it than usual, which Jongin finds very strange.

When most of the others have left, and Joonmyun crosses to sit with Jongdae, for some reason Jongin can’t explain, Yixing sighs wistfully, “I want more pets.”

Everyone turns to look at him, eyes wide in confusion and surprise.

“Yixing!” Yifan almost explodes. “But—”

“Zhang Yixing, are you a masochist?” Minseok says. “You already have two young puppies.”

“But there are these two even younger puppies in the pet shop and they’re so cute,” Yixing says, and his eyes inexplicably fill with tears. “And Zitao and Sehun like both of them, and I think it’d be really sweet to have them around.”

Jongin wonders if he means Yoona and Yuri and then how to warn Yixing off them.

“If you have four puppies, what’s to say they’ll listen to you?” Baekhyun asks, one eyebrow raised.

“But they’re cute!” Yixing whines. “I want them.”

“Where will Chanyeol and Jongdae sleep, when we come over?” Yifan asks, as if this is the most important thing in the world. Jongin thinks there’s something veiled in there. Yifan, after all, didn’t ask where he was going to sleep. Jongin wonders if he should have noticed if there was something going on between them. Maybe lingering touches, glances, but nothing more.

“There’ll be room, there’ll always be room,” Yixing says, though he doesn’t sound terribly sure.

“Where will they sleep when you come to mine? It’s hard putting up two, let alone four,” Yifan adds, and Yixing bites his lip, thinking.

“I _want_ them!” he says, instead of trying to argue against Yifan. He sounds like a small child when he talks like that. Jongin wonders how old he is. He’s pretty sure he’s older than he is, and people older than he is should probably never whine. Except it’s bizarrely cute, he thinks.

“Don’t come crying to me when they don’t listen to you,” Yifan says, and Minseok nods.

“They probably won’t,” he says, but it’s not unkind, just more observant. “More boys?”

“Girls,” Yixing says. He doesn’t seem offended that everybody thinks he shouldn’t get the girls, but Jongin doesn’t really know what Yixing thinks. He isn’t exactly an open book.

“Good luck,” Baekhyun says, shaking his head. “You and Minseok-hyung both, really. Just wait until heat sets in.”

Jongin, who hasn’t thought about heat at all, is suddenly glad that he doesn’t have a girl pet, and that there aren’t many around. He can’t imagine Joonmyun going crazy for Jessica, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. He just _hopes_ that it won’t, because he’s already unsure of how to deal with Joonmyun now he knows he gets horny, it’ll be worse when it’s for somebody _else_.

He should be more bothered by this than he is, but he just wants to ignore it all and hope it never happens, so he just doesn’t think about it.

\---

Somehow Yixing had got his way and talked Jongin into going with him to pick Yoona and Yuri up. Jongin doesn’t really know how he’s got himself into this situation. He supposes that picking up Miyoung might have helped. Or hurt. Because now everybody is going to think he’s good for picking up puppies.

Yixing leaves his other two at home, but Joonmyun has been sticking to Jongin like glue these past few days, so Jongin takes him down to Yixing’s car. Yixing raises an eyebrow but says nothing, instead driving them to Leeteuk’s pet shop.

Yoona and Yuri are scrapping together just as Jongin remembers. He honestly doesn’t understand why Yixing is attracted to them; he surely already has enough on his plate. But he doesn’t say so. Instead he has Joonmyun try to calm them down first.

They get even more excited when they see Joonmyun, grabbing his legs like they haven’t seen him forever, although it hasn’t been more than a week, but they do calm down enough to let Yixing stroke them.

“Are you taking us home?” Yuri, the Dalmatian, asks, blinking her eyes widely up at him.

“Yes,” Yixing says. “Would you like that? You know Sehun and Zitao, don’t you?”

“We like the Oppadeul,” Yoona, the brown toy poodle, says.

“Yes,” Yuri agrees. “We’d like that.”

It’s harder work to prepare to take them home than it was to take Joonmyun or Miyoung home. Yixing spends time buying them collars whilst they sit at Jongin’s feet obediently. Their belongings also have to be packed up. Yixing apologises profusely for having Jongin help, but he shrugs. He has nothing better to do anyway.

Getting the puppies in the car is also a chore, because they don’t want to be separated from each other and Joonmyun doesn’t want to be separated from Jongin. In the end the whining from three corners causes Jongin to relent to Joonmyun in his lap in the back seat and hoping that the police don’t spot the safety issues and arrest them.

He’s just grateful he isn’t Yixing and doesn’t have to get the puppies and their belongings into his house. For one, he doesn’t have the room, but he also doesn’t have the patience. He thinks Yixing is probably going to need to find a dog trainer, and then wonders if such a thing even exists. Not that it’s any of his business anyway.

But Joonmyun is so much better trained, and, even though he cuddles too much for Jongin’s liking, he behaves and he’s cute and he’s not a puppy. Taemin is a terrible friend, but without him he’d never have met Joonmyun and Jongin isn’t sure what life would be like _without_ Joonmyun now. And he doesn’t want to try.

Jongin absently wonders if Taemin would like a present, but the only thing he can think of that would be useful is a ball-gag, and he’s not going there.

\---

Jongin feels wound up. He doesn’t know why, maybe it’s because people have started giving him judging looks that he can’t explain, or maybe he’s just paranoid. He thinks mostly that working all the time is tiring, even if the work he does isn’t very exciting.

Minseok tells him that pets are good for calming people down, and suggests a quiet night in with his cat and a film, and Jongin can’t find it in him to argue.

He phones Joonmyun from work and tells him not to cook tonight, he’ll order takeaway for them. He can hear Joonmyun purring with the delight of trying something new. He hadn’t realised they’d never had it before, that Joonmyun was always the one doing the cooking.

“Rest easy, okay?” he says. “I’ll be home in a few hours.”

Minseok is trying to conceal a smirk when Jongin hangs up the phone. Jongin raises an eyebrow at him.

“What?” Jongin asks.

“Nothing, nothing,” Minseok says. “I hope it helps.”

Jongin does as well, and it’s with a smile on his face that he heads home. Joonmyun greets him at the door with happy nuzzles. “How was your day?” he asks.

“It’ll get better now,” Jongin replies, and strips out of his work clothes quickly, pulling on a loose t-shirt and pair of shorts. “What do you want to eat?”

Joonmyun shrugs, so Jongin orders for them both; takeaway Chinese, Western style—prawn toast, Satay chicken skewers, Chow Mein—prawn for Joonmyun, who does seem to like seafood very much, pork for himself.

“Do you want to watch a film with me?” he asks, when the food is ordered and he’s settled on the sofa.

Joonmyun nods and moves to curl up next to Jongin, legs half over his. Jongin hasn’t noticed until now that Joonmyun’s become clingier, but it doesn’t really bother him. He finds it comforting, having someone so close to him.

They sit there, without choosing a film to watch, until the food comes. Joonmyun digs into his with glee once he realises what Jongin has ordered him, and gives him a very greasy lick on the cheek. Jongin laughs even as he wrinkles his nose and tries to wipe his face clean, only succeeding in smearing the grease about. Joonmyun laughs and licks him on the other cheek, so they match.

They pick a film, some stupid comedy that Taemin had bought Jongin last year for his birthday because the main characters reminded him of them. Jongin’s never watched it, but he enjoys it with Joonmyun, his side toasty warm, his body humming as Joonmyun purrs.

“I wish I’d always had this,” Joonmyun whispers during a lull in the film. “I would have grown up better, happier, if I’d always had this.”

Jongin doesn’t know what to say, so he doesn’t, just tightens his fingers around Joonmyun’s in a way that he hopes means _I know_. At the same time, he doesn’t understand. He thinks that maybe he should get the word, “Clueless,” tattooed on his forehead so people stop confusing him all the time.

The next moment there’s a _pop!_ and Joonmyun is back to being a tiny, happy cat in his lap and Jongin laughs, and everything seems normal again.

\---

Jongin wakes up on Thursday morning to an empty bed and the smell of cake.

He pads into the kitchen just in his sleep shorts to find Joonmyun, dressed, wearing an apron—something he doesn’t see nearly as often as he’d thought he would—taking a cake out of the oven.

“Good morning,” Jongin says, once Joonmyun’s placed the cake on the cooling rack, knowing how clumsy he is. “What’s the occasion?”

Joonmyun turns to face him, eyes sparkling. “It’s my birthday,” he says. “So I wanted to make a cake.”

Jongin feels _wretched_. “You should have told me!” he exclaims, flailing his arms before he realises what he’s doing and pins them back down to his side. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay,” Joonmyun says, coming over to nuzzle him. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You’re eighteen,” Jongin tries. “It’s a big number. You shouldn’t have to bake your own birthday cake.”

“I wanted to,” Joonmyun tells him, nuzzling him again. “We can have cake for breakfast, and we can take the rest to the meeting tonight.” Then he pushes Jongin back out of the kitchen. “Get dressed while it cools.”

Jongin obediently heads back into the bathroom and gets ready for work.

When Jongin has finished his shower and is dressed for work, the cake, a plain Victoria sponge, is iced, with a big number eighteen and a heart and some other pictures he can’t recognise. He thinks there might be a stick figure that is meant to be himself, holding hands with who he presumes is Joonmyun, due to the stick-figure’s tail. He finds the whole thing rather cute and heads back into the bedroom to find his barely-used camera. He takes photos of the cake, and then Joonmyun as he’s about to cut the cake; eyes sparkling, hair a mess, flour covering his cheeks. He looks adorable and extremely happy.

Joonmyun refuses to try the first piece, instead insisting that Jongin eat it off the end of his fork. Jongin laughs and lets him have his way when he starts making those pouty faces that Jongin can’t resist, and he takes the offered mouthful. Joonmyun looks strangely pleased.

The cake tastes good. Normally Jongin doesn’t like cake, but he’s learning that he likes everything Joonmyun makes, and this is no exception. It has just the right consistency.

“It’s really good,” Jongin says, and then, inexplicably, holds out his own fork for Joonmyun. Joonmyun bites the offered cake hastily, as if the fork is going to be removed before he gets a chance to eat it. He chews with a smile on his face, pink dusting his cheeks under all the flour.

When they’re finished, Jongin takes Joonmyun to the sink and helps clean the flour from his cheeks with a wet paper towel.

“Thank you,” Joonmyun says. “Have a good day at work.” He looks a little wistful. Jongin knows he gets lonely, but there’s nothing he can do.

“Go and see Lu Han, Miyoung and Minho,” he says, instead. “Don’t be alone on your birthday.”

Joonmyun nods his head, smiling happily, and Jongin heads off to work.

During his lunch break, he heads out to buy something for Joonmyun, and ends up getting some catnip mice, a teddy bear, and a new jumper for him.

When he gives them to him after work, Joonmyun tells him he didn’t need to, but Jongin would have felt terrible if he hadn’t. Plus, watching Joonmyun clutch the teddy bear to his chest, dressed in the green tartan sweater Jongin had bought him, and seeing the sparkles in his eyes makes it all worth it.

\---

They’re early to the meeting that evening, arriving when only Yifan, Chanyeol and Jongdae are there. Chanyeol is lying on his back, feet in the air, and Jongdae keeps smacking him with his tail, pretending that he isn’t. Joonmyun scampers over to them immediately.

“Hyung,” he says, cutely, to Jongdae, who pets him briefly.

“Good kitty,” Jongdae says, a little sarcastically, but he’s smiling. He leans in to lick Joonmyun’s cheek.

“Old kitty,” Joonmyun says, and puffs his chest up proudly. He sounds like a five year old. Jongin covers his mouth to hide his smirk. “It’s my birthday.”

“Happy birthday,” Jongdae says, and then he’s shoved out of the way so Chanyeol can hug Joonmyun.

“Happy birthday, Umma!” Chanyeol says.

“Congratulations,” Yifan says, appearing over Jongin’s shoulder. “This should be good.”

Jongin has no idea what he’s talking about.

When everyone else arrives, Joonmyun brings out the birthday cake—or cakes, because he appears to have made another one.

“This is me, and this is Hyung,” he says proudly, pointing at the stick figures on the new cake. Jongin’s stick figure has an arm around Joonmyun, this time. He laughs.

The meeting turns into a birthday party for Joonmyun. The two new puppies do steal a lot of the attention, though, because they’re so young and so cute. They have Sooyoung and Taeyeon cooing over them in no time. Yixing seems happy, even though he has dark circles under his eyes.

“You were right,” he says to Jongin during a break. “They’re running me ragged. But they’re absolutely adorable.”

“You need to go to a dog trainer,” Yifan says. “I take Chanyeol and Miyoung to one. I’m sure he’ll like to take on yours as well. I keep telling you this, Yixing, but you really should take Zitao and Sehun, too.”

Yixing sighs but nods his head, before moving away to accept his slice of cake from Joonmyun’s outstretched hand.

Joonmyun gets birthday hugs or kisses from all of the pets. Minho, like Chanyeol, bowls him over. Most of the girls, plus Jinho, give him licks or kisses on the cheek—even Jessi gives him a gentle kiss. Taeyeon looks proud. Kyungsoo hugs him tightly, and Yixing’s boys give him a hug at the same time which involves them pushing Joonmyun to the ground and lying on his chest.

Lastly, Jongdae gives Joonmyun a big scratch down his back as he hugs him, culminating at his tail. Joonmyun makes happy purring noises and Jongin, with a sigh, says, “Stop molesting my cat,” and drags him away. “Bad cat,” he adds, and taps Jongdae on the nose.

Yifan bursts into guffaws at the look of surprise and hurt on Jongdae’s face. Most of the rest of the humans laugh too. Taeyeon and Baekhyun have tears in their eyes from laughing so hard.

“Mrow,” Jongdae says with a frown, brow furrowed in confusion. “I was just—”

“Nope,” Jongin says, cutting him off, but he takes pity on him anyway and scratches him behind the ears until Jongdae crawls closer and rubs his head against his thigh, purring.

Joonmyun, seemingly jealous at the attention, nudges Jongin’s free hand until he’s petting him as well, and he spends much of the session, which is _supposed_ to be a party, with two cats, one on either side of him, bullying him into stroking or petting them. And then Jinri gets jealous and climbs up onto his lap, and Jongin wonders how many hands he’s supposed to have.

Finally all three of them fall asleep, curled together as the other pets watch in amusement, and Jongin feels relieved until Jessi, rather nervously, nudges his hand with her head. Taeyeon looks on in absolute _awe_. Jongin feels like the next Doctor Dolittle without having any idea why.

At the end, when everyone’s leaving, Yifan takes him aside and asks him, very seriously, if he wouldn’t mind having Jongdae over on Sundays, because he seems to be very good at making him behave, and he’s never met anyone able to do that before.

Jongin can also see Taeyeon hovering at the side and wonders if he’s going to end up a babysitter for cats.

\---

Jongin does, in fact, become a babysitter for cats—and Henry and Jinho, of course. Joonmyun seems to love the company, and they’re all fairly well behaved.

They come over for a few hours on Sunday—Jongdae, Juhyun, Jessica, Jinri, Soojung, and the two non-cats. They curl up on Jongin’s sofa and watch a film whilst Joonmyun cooks them lunch, and the littlest ones fall asleep before it’s ready, Jinri in Jongin’s lap, Soojung with her head against his thigh, hugging his leg, and Jinho and Henry pressed against each other. Juhyun, fourteen years old like the boys, stays awake just until food is ready, and then falls asleep with her spoon in her mouth.

They’re all too cute to wake up, so Jongin moves them to the couch and his bed and Joonmyun saves their food for later. They eat with just Jongdae and Jessica, who barely talk to each other, though Jongdae sneaks glances at her the whole time. Jongin covers his smile, remembering the first time when he met Jongdae and thought he was just showing off for the girls—it seems like he was right.

When the children wake up, they seem embarrassed, but Jongin, by now, knows that pets age very differently. Anything under ten years old is equal to less than five years old in human years, and anything under fourteen is still a child, and the youngest two are twelve and thirteen years old. Sixteen is when pets mature, so although they can be bought before then, and they may seem like they’re grown-up, they’re still all children except the eldest three at eighteen.

After lunch, they head back to watch another film. Jongdae makes faces at Joonmyun until he concedes to allowing Jongdae to climb into Jongin’s lap. Jongin wonders when this became his life; with cats that don’t belong to him sitting in his lap the way even Joonmyun doesn’t usually do unless he’s scared or upset. But strangely enough, he isn’t really bothered.

By the time their Masters come to pick them up, the younger kids are awake, have eaten, and are bouncing around the house like excited five year olds, and the older three are asleep in Jongin and Joonmyun’s bed.

Everyone is very grateful and asks if Jongin can do it again next week, and Jongin just laughs before agreeing, because it’s rather nice.

\---

It’s Jongin’s next day off. They’re out for a walk, just ambling down towards the park because Joonmyun wanted to play with the ducks, when Jongin sees one of his old bosses, and leads Joonmyun over to him.

He doesn’t notice Joonmyun stiffening. If he had, he would never have taken him to meet him.

They greet each other genially. Jongin always liked him. He was firm without being too stern, and always made an effort to get to know the employees. Jongin only worked under him for a few months before he left and was replaced with Jongin’s current boss.

“Who’s this?” the old man asks, indicating Joonmyun, who is half behind Jongin, clutching his hand tightly.

“This is Joonmyun,” Jongin says with a smile. “We were going to the park today, it’s nice out.”

“Ah,” the old man says, nodding his head. “I had a Joonmyun once. Mouthy little brat he was, always needed a smack to get him to work. I’m sure yours is better trained.”

Jongin feels a lump in his throat as Joonmyun stiffens behind him and moulds himself further into Jongin’s back, his arm twisted between their bodies uncomfortably. He couldn’t—could he? He manages to find his voice though, and says, “Yes—he’s wonderfully trained,” though he doesn’t want to. Suddenly everything he liked about this man seems like a cover for the abuse he gave his cat at home.

What’s worse is the fact he probably had Joonmyun whilst he was Jongin’s boss. He vaguely remembers complains of, “That bloody cat!” and, “Need to take that cat to be trained.”

He can’t be rid of the man quick enough, making some polite apology about how they have to be going. When he’s out of sight, Jongin turns to face Joonmyun and wraps his arms tightly around him. Joonmyun buries his head in his chest and hugs him back. “Are you okay?” Jongin asks.

“Yes,” Joonmyun says, though he’s still quaking. “I knew you would protect me.”

“I’m sorry anything like that ever happened to you,” Jongin says, and suddenly he understands. When he got angry, Joonmyun was expecting to be hit, because that was what his old Master had done. He feels sick. “I don’t want to upset you, but how long were you with him?”

“Two months,” Joonmyun says quietly. “I was eight years old.”

Jongin gathers him up again, hoping that his hug can be of some comfort to his cat, because there’s no way an eight year old could have understood what was happening. He imagines Joonmyun as a child; tail and whiskers too long, so much innocence in his wide eyes, not understanding why he was being punished, and chokes another lump in his throat down. He only pulls away when Joonmyun licks his jawline gently, though he can probably feel Jongin’s stubble and it can’t possibly be comfortable against his tongue. He can see the affection in Joonmyun’s eyes when he pulls away, Joonmyun still holding onto his hand, anchoring him.

“It’s okay, Jongin,” Joonmyun says softly. “I have you now.”

Jongin feels something rise in him that he can’t explain. Instead, he just leads Joonmyun to the park in silence, hoping that it will soothe him.

After they go home, Jongin spends well over an hour grooming Joonmyun, just trying to make him feel like he is loved. It’s calming for both of them, Joonmyun nosing his throat gently, and Jongin tries not to think of Joonmyun in someone else’s hands. He’s Jongin’s. Thinking of _ifs_ isn’t going to change that, but sometimes he worries anyway.

Nobody else would care for Joonmyun the way he does, he thinks, and then shoves the thought away almost before he’s finished thinking it.

\---

It’s barely a week later when he gets the call.

The phone number is Taemin’s home number so Jongin rolls his eyes as he picks it up. It’s two in the afternoon, he’s at work—as is Taemin—, and the last time Minho called him it was to complain that Taemin wouldn’t cook for them and to ask if he could borrow Joonmyun for a night—to which Jongin had resolutely refused, before hanging up on him.

“Yes?” he asks, more than a little bored, but when he hears the hiccoughing, he sits up straight. “Hello?” he tries again. “What’s wrong?”

“Jongin,” Joonmyun sobs. “There’s been a fire.”

Jongin’s heart plummets to his feet. “Oh God,” he says, trying to imagine—their house on flames, Joonmyun running out. His chest constricts. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Joonmyun says. “It’s not our home. Our home is fine. It’s the one at the corner, you know, the big one?”

Jongin heaves a sigh of relief, thankfulness spreading through his body. Their home is fine. Joonmyun is fine. He nods before realising Joonmyun can’t see him. “Yes,” he says.

“There was an electrical fire,” Joonmyun says. “They evacuated all of us. I’m really scared. Can I come to see you?”

“Of course,” Jongin says, not thinking at all how it might look to the others. He’s already forgotten that you’re not supposed to have pets at work. This is an emergency. “You can sit in the lobby until I finish work, if you want?”

“Thank you,” Joonmyun says, still hiccoughing.

“Do you know where I work?”

“No,” Joonmyun replies, so Jongin tells him.

Thirty minutes later Joonmyun’s at the door, shivering in just a t-shirt and shorts, eyes red from crying.

Joonmyun looks really nervous to be there, in that big office with people he doesn’t know. When the receptionist asks why he’s there he bites his nail and cowers back into the door, eyes wide.

Jongin crosses the room to him quickly. “Hey,” he says. “It’s okay. Nothing’s going to harm you here.”

Joonmyun leans into him immediately. “Jongin,” he says, “I was so scared.”

“I know, I know,” Jongin says, and hugs him briefly, before he takes him to the lobby and gets him a glass of water.

Minseok looks at him with confusion when he sits back down, so Jongin explains what’s happened.

“Poor thing,” Minseok says. “I hope everything is okay for you tonight.”

Thankfully the fire has been stopped by the time work is over, the evacuation relaxed, and they’re able to go back home together, Joonmyun holding on just a little bit tighter than usual. Jongin doesn’t say anything. He understands.

\---

Jongin doesn’t count the weeks, but soon it’s been weeks of waking up to Joonmyun under his chin, sometimes as a cat, sometimes as Joonmyun, sometimes as a naked Joonmyun—he would rather not, but they’re both blokes, who shower together; nothing he hasn’t seen before. Weeks of good food, of having a shower buddy, of new friends and new lunchtime partners—Taeyeon sneaks herself solidly into his life. Weeks of looking after babies at the weekend. Weeks of being happier than he’s ever been before in his life.

He thinks back to the beginning, to Taemin telling him it’ll be good for him to have a pet, and he can’t argue that Joonmyun _isn’t_ the best thing to ever happen to him.

But this isn’t the way he’d expected things to go.

He started by grooming Joonmyun, which is not an uncommon occurrence. Joonmyun fits comfortably in his arms, across his lap, now. Now he’s stroking Joonmyun lazily with his hand, the brush dropped to the side. Joonmyun is sitting upright, curled against him, eyes half-closed in bliss. His hand falls to Joonmyun’s tail and absently he scratches at the base, catching Joonmyun’s purrs but not paying much attention to them. He hasn’t done this for a while, but in his sleepy state he can’t remember why.

And then it hits him, when he feels Joonmyun hardening against his side. He pulls away hastily.

Joonmyun hisses and pouts at him. “Don’t stop,” he whines, and grabs Jongin’s hand, trying to place it against his skin. “ _Please_.”

“I—I can’t,” Jongin says.

“Please,” Joonmyun whines, and then it comes out in a rush, like he’s been keeping it in for weeks. “I’ve been so _good_ ; I didn’t want to push you and—why can’t you?”

“Because I know what it means,” Jongin says, but his eyes are wide and Joonmyun’s words are filtering into his head and for the first time _he understands_.

“Well, yes,” Joonmyun says, frowning. “And you should know it’s _fine_ because I _want_ —”

“No,” Jongin says, and he stands quickly. “I—I have to go, I’ll be back.” The excuse makes no sense, but he just knows he has to be away. He jabs his feet into his shoes, grabs his keys, and heads out, leaving Joonmyun on the sofa with a raging hard-on.

He walks without knowing where he’s going, just trying to process what’s in his mind.

His cat wants to have _sex_ with him.

That’s basically the crux of the whole thing. His cat wants to have sex with him, and has for a while. Jongin just doesn’t understand. Has he given Joonmyun signs?

He realises he’s walked to the park when he hears ducks quacking, and he remembers that day, when he’d learnt about Joonmyun’s past and he’d held Joonmyun like that and he collapses onto a bench and drops his head into his hands.

He’s only been there for five or so minutes when he hears, “What’s got you into such a state?” When he looks up, Yifan is standing there, alone. It’s the first time Jongin’s ever seen him without one of his pets, and it’s a strange sight.

Jongin wasn’t going to say it, but now there’s someone there, someone older, with more experience, it rushes out of him. “Joonmyun wants to have sex with me.” He says it plainly, not wanting it to get misconstrued.

Yifan sighs and sits next to him on the bench. “Well,” he begins, “he _has_ been calling you by your name for weeks. If that wasn’t a clue, I’m not sure what a clue _is_.”

Jongin blinks at him for a few moments, and then realises he’s right. Joonmyun has been calling him _Jongin_ since _that_ day. “Oh,” he says.

“To be honest, we’ve been expecting it for a while. Joonmyun claimed you. It’s a big thing, with big significance. He was always going to fall for you. I’m sure he expected that you would, as well.”

“Oh,” Jongin repeats, a little dumbly.

“Well, to be honest, I’m not the best person to talk to about this. In case you hadn’t noticed, both of my pets still call me Hyung.” Yifan winks. It’s a little terrifying, especially with the significance of his words. “You should probably talk to Minseok about this. I wouldn’t talk to Taemin.”

“I never talk to Taemin about anything important,” Jongin says, somehow managing to still be cutting even in a state like this.

Yifan laughs. “Probably a good thing. I dread to think what advice he’d give. But Minseok might be able to help you. He knows a bit about relationships.” He stands up. “Well, I’d best be off. I’m going to pick Chanyeol and Miyoung up from Yunho. He’s the dog trainer I send them to. Good luck.”

And then he’s on his way, leaving Jongin there, alone.

Jongin waits there for only a few more minutes before standing and walking to Minseok’s house, knowing that Minseok will be there, if Yifan is collecting Miyoung for him.

Sure enough, Minseok is there when he knocks on the door. “Can I talk to you, Hyung?” Jongin asks, and his voice sounds even smaller than when he’d talked to Yifan.

Minseok stays quiet whilst he explains his situation, but speaks up when he ends. “Well, do you like him?” he asks. “It’s pretty simple. It’s just like any other relationship.”

“Except he’s a _cat_ ,” Jongin argues. “And he _depends_ on me. I don’t want it to be like, I don’t know—”

Minseok cuts him off. “There’s nothing wrong with it. Sixty per cent of pets fall in love with their owners. It’s normal. But do you like him?”

Jongin shrugs, because he’s never thought about Joonmyun like that. He’s never thought about kissing him, or doing anything else with him. But now he’s thinking about it, he’s seen that Joonmyun has. Recently his licks have been closer to kisses than anything else. And he’s always been so gentle and careful, but extremely loving.

Jongin tries to imagine kissing Joonmyun, mouths moving together, and for some reason it doesn’t seem that different from what they already have. Their relationship, he realises a little belatedly, is more sexless married couple than two guys who live together, or a man and his cat.

“Maybe,” he says, finally. “I don’t know.”

“You should probably think about it. You already know that Joonmyun wants it, so you only need to worry about your own feelings.”

Jongin nods and heads back to his and Joonmyun’s home.

It’s empty when he gets back, and he swallows the lump in his throat that threatens to rise and goes to bed. Joonmyun’s a big boy; he’ll come back when he’s ready.

\---

He wakes up from a dream where he’s kissing Joonmyun when he hears the key in the door, and he heads out sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

Joonmyun’s there, toeing his shoes off. When he sees Jongin, he bites his nail and then says, “I’m sorry, I went to Minho-hyung’s.”

“It’s okay,” Jongin assures him.

“He told me that I was too forceful,” Joonmyun says, looking anywhere but at Jongin. “That I scared you away. I just—I just wanted. It’s been a long time.”

Jongin takes a few unsure steps over to Joonmyun, and then takes his hand. “I think we should talk about this,” he says, and leads Joonmyun into the sitting room.

They sit next to each other on the sofa, facing each other.

“I—” Joonmyun says, and then he takes a deep breath. “I want to tell you something. I—”

There’s a tightening in his chest and suddenly Jongin knows what’s coming and he can’t, he can’t listen— “Don’t—” he tries, futilely.

“I love you,” Joonmyun says.

“You _can’t_ ,” Jongin says, desperately, although he’s not sure why. It’s just—it’s strange. There’s a feeling in his chest and—

“Don’t tell me I can’t love you, Jongin,” Joonmyun snaps, eyes tearing up. “I’ve loved you for _so long_ it actually hurts, and I just wanted you to know. So now you know. I’m sorry.”

The pain in his chest turns into a buzzing and he realises what it is—it’s not his own, it’s more pain that Joonmyun is able to like him so much, and that he’s _sorry_ , because he thinks Jongin doesn’t— “But I’m nothing,” he manages.

“Jongin,” Joonmyun says, laughing through his tears, “you’re _everything_ to me.”

Jongin reaches out for Joonmyun almost unconsciously, pressing his face into his cat’s hair, Joonmyun’s ears against his cheeks. It’s too much, and yet it’s not, because his heart is singing and he doesn’t understand it, as always, except no; this time he _does_.

“Minho told me not to lick you,” Joonmyun says, pulling away a little bit, “so—” And he presses his lips to Jongin’s.

It’s a gentle, inexperienced kiss, but Jongin kisses him back, equally soft, but trying to put as many of his emotions into the kiss as he possibly can. He’s sorry he ran away. But he was surprised, and Joonmyun can’t fault him for that.

When they pull apart, Joonmyun asks, a little cheekily, “Now, will you scratch my tail?” and Jongin laughs, until Joonmyun crawls into his lap and kisses him again.

Jongin raises his hand obediently and scratches until Joonmyun’s hard against his stomach, feeling an echoing throb in his own jeans.

Jongin pulls Joonmyun’s cock out from his underwear and strokes it, feeling how different it is to stroke someone else. He uses the pre-come as lubricant, which makes the slide easier. He twists and strokes and thumbs the head until Joonmyun is a little writhing mess in his lap, and he comes hard over Jongin’s hand and Jongin wonders how long he’s wanted, _needed_ , that.

Joonmyun’s hand slides into his underwear and it’s only a few embarrassingly short minutes before he comes as well. Joonmyun looks at him coquettishly from under his eyelashes before he licks his hand clean of all the mess and Jongin groans, eyes rolling back into his head.

“I know you haven’t done anything for a while,” Joonmyun says. “And that can’t be comfortable. So now you can.”

Jongin laughs. When Joonmyun pouts at him, he just says, “You’re funny,” and kisses him again.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Stuff that never happened:
> 
> Yixing getting home and getting tackled by four dogs and lying there for hours until Yifan lets himself in and helps Yixing up (speaking of, they met when thirteen year old Zitao and Sehun barrelled straight into Yifan and Yixing had to help him up)
> 
> Yunho running the dog training centre and being really hard on the pups but still really nice and Changmin running the accounts and pretending to not be a dog person but when Yunho goes out for a few moments he sneaks in with dog chocolate. All the pups adore him
> 
> Yifan begging Yunho not to leave Chanyeol and Miyoung alone with each other because he doesn’t know what will happen
> 
> What happens when Miyoung and Jessica are in heat
> 
> The fact that after Jongin sleeps with him, Joonmyun never turns into a cat again


End file.
